English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News
& Editorials
For January 26/2026
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their
cross and follow me
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 16/24-28:
“Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them
deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to
save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will
find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit
their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? ‘For the Son of Man
is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay
everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here
who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on January
25-26/2026
The Necessity of Ending Lebanon’s “Battleground” Status and Recognizing
Israel/Elias Bejjani/January 25/2026
Search Continues for Young Woman Trapped Under the Rubble of a Collapsed
Building in Qobbeh… Civil Defense Reinforcements to Speed Up Rescue
Contact Lost with Young Woman Trapped Under Rubble… Stones Falling from Adjacent
Building and Evacuation Requested in Bab al-Tabbaneh
Tripoli Municipality: Claims Circulating About Buildings at Risk of Collapse Are
Misleading
Cracked Buildings Pose a Threat to Residents in Northern Lebanon
Search Continues for Young Woman Under Rubble of Building That Collapsed
Saturday in Tripoli
Lebanon says Israeli strikes on south kill two
Israel attacks southern Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
Israeli army claims it struck Hezbollah site in southern Lebanon, targets
infrastructure in Beqaa
Israeli strike targets car near gas company between Maaroub and Barich
Israeli airstrike targets area between Kfar Dounine and Bir El Sanasel in South
Lebanon
Lebanon PM says international force needed after UNIFIL
Lebanon’s Weapons Monopoly Efforts to Shape International Support for the Army
Salam says Lebanon won't back down from 2nd phase of Hezbollah disarmament
Detainees issue sparks tension between Hezbollah, families and Lebanese
authorities
Why Hezbollah’s Base Is Battling the President Digitally/Salam El Zaatari/This
is Beirut/25 January/2026
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous
Reports And News published
on January
25-26/2026
Video-Link From JNS Youtube Platform with Gad Saad/Gad Saad WARNS The
Next Stage of Islam's Takeover Will Be More Deadly Than You Think...
Iran Protest Death Toll Could Top 30,000: Local Officials
Iran unveils mural warning of retaliation if US conducts a military strike
Military intervention in Iran ‘not the preferred option,’ French minister says
Iran Judicial Chief Says Protest Instigators to Receive No Leniency
US university fires daughter of senior Iranian official Ali Larijani
Syria opens humanitarian corridor to Kurdish town of Kobane after ceasefire
extended
Syria frees 126 minors after taking prison from Kurdish forces: State media
Israel army investigates soldier over Palestinian’s fake abduction
US Reports Constructive Talks with Israel's Netanyahu on Gaza Plan
Israel Says Searching for Remains of Last Hostage at Northern Gaza Cemetery
Netanyahu to brief opposition leader amid questions over timing of potential
Iran strike
Israeli fire kills three in Gaza, as US seeks to advance Gaza deal
UK Police arrest 86 people at prison protest for Palestine Action hunger striker
Iraq Urges International Community to Help it Shoulder ISIS Burden
Iraqi lawmakers to elect president this week, PM appointment next
Zelenskyy seeks more air defense as Russia plunges Kyiv into cold
‘Risk of mass violence against civilians’ in S. Sudan: UN experts
Indian captain of suspected Russian shadow tanker in French custody
Russia will never discuss anything with EU’s Kallas, the Kremlin says
No plans for China free trade deal, Carney says as Trump fixates on Canada
Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published
on January
25-26/2026
Opinion - Israel’s election may come soon and could change the country
forever/Eric R. Mandel, opinion contributor/The Hill/January 25/2026
America. We Are Going to Destroy It': The Persecution of Christians, November
2025/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/January 25, 2026
Donald Trump confronts the world with a harsh mirror/Raghida Dergham/Al Arabiya
English/25 January/2026
Frankly Speaking: What’s next for Yemen?/Arab News/January 25, 2026
EU leaders begin India visit ahead of ‘mother of all deals’ trade pact/Sanjay
Kumar/Arab News/January 25, 2026
Trump plan might protect Palestinians from Israeli occupiers/Daoud Kuttab/Arab
News/January 25, 2026
US must restore the rule of law on immigration/Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/January
25, 2026
Europe has quietly lost the habit of long-term thinking/Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Arab
News/January 25, 2026
Iraq: A Proactive Approach to Preventing the Return of ISIS/Farhad Alaaldin-The
Iraqi Prime Minister's Advisor for Foreign Affairs/Asharq Al Awsat/25
January/2026
Real Estate Peace/Samir Atallah/Asharq Al Awsat/25 January/2026
The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January
25-26/2026
The Necessity of Ending Lebanon’s “Battleground” Status and Recognizing
Israel
Elias Bejjani/January 25/2026
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2026/01/151479/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4GdPMkWXbs
As the saying goes, “Once the cause is
known, wonder ceases.” The true tragedy of Lebanon is not merely its security,
economic, or social collapse, but the suicidal persistence in remaining a
perpetual “battleground” and a regional “mailbox.” The core cause of this
national disintegration lies in the absence of faith among Lebanon’s ruling
class: political leaders, party bosses turned corporate oligarchs, hypocritical
Arabists, leftists, and self-proclaimed nationalists. They do not believe in the
concept of the state, nor in Lebanon as a sovereign entity with a distinct role
and mission. More dangerously, they lack the most basic standards of ethics and
genuine patriotism.
The so-called “Resistance” in Lebanon was never a Lebanese project. It was a
façade for cross-border agendas that transformed the country into a hostage.
This tragic farce began in the late 1960s, when criminal and terrorist
Palestinian organizations violated Lebanese sovereignty under the banner of
“liberation.” They were assisted by the so-called “National Movement”—a
coalition of leftists, Arabists, Baathists, and ideologues who harbored
hostility toward Lebanon as a state, a message, and a beacon of freedom—thereby
tearing apart the national fabric.
This was followed by the barbaric Syrian Baathist occupation, which imposed its
tutelage under the same slogans and ushered in one of the darkest eras in
Lebanon’s modern history. Since 2005, the Iranian-backed, sectarian, and
reckless Hezbollah militia has tightened its grip on the Lebanese people,
turning the South, the Suburbs, the Bekaa, and other regions into weapons
depots, tunnel networks, and missile platforms serving the agenda of Tehran’s
mullahs.
The insistence on keeping Lebanon in a permanent state of war with Israel—at a
time when Arab states are negotiating, reconciling, and prioritizing their
national interests—has produced devastating consequences:
The reduction of the state to mere “geography” used for settling the scores of
others, led by Iran, Syria, and the local, regional, and international merchants
of the “Resistance” illusion.
The impossibility of building a stable economy or attracting investment in a
country held hostage by a trigger finger controlled by foreign powers, capable
of igniting a war of total destruction at any moment.
Lebanon’s transformation into a “terrorist island” outside international
legitimacy and the rule of law, depriving it of peace, sovereignty,
independence, and development.
The entrenchment of a culture of death and war that drives Lebanon’s finest
youth into exile, leaving the country to militias, mobs, and political
opportunists.
Transitioning Lebanon into a “normal state” through mutual recognition between
Lebanon and Israel is not an act of treason. On the contrary, it represents the
highest form of patriotism and political realism. The benefits are clear and
tangible:
Finalizing borders and dismantling the fabricated pretexts of the Shebaa Farms
and Kfarchouba Hills, long exploited as an evil & fake tags “Shirt of Uthman” to
justify the persistence of illegal weapons.
Securing safe investment in offshore gas and oil resources and opening the door
to economic, commercial, and tourism cooperation in a region moving toward “zero
problems.”
Ending the so-called “state of war,” thereby stripping all militias of any
claimed legitimacy and restoring exclusive sovereign decision-making to the
Lebanese Army.
Most importantly, halting Lebanon’s role as a “factory of death” and restoring
its historic function as a cultural and civilizational bridge between East and
West.
In conclusion, Lebanon’s recovery of its identity and sovereignty begins with
full border control, strict adherence to international resolutions—including the
latest ceasefire agreement—and the rejection of the false narrative that
“Lebanon must always be the last to sign a peace accord with Israel.” Today,
Lebanese citizens are called upon to break free from political herd mentality
and the worship of “Iscariot” leaders who feast on national humiliation and
Lebanese blood.
Liberating Lebanon from the grip of “Temple Traders” and the culture of
appeasing the strong while shifting loyalties for personal gain requires the
courage to speak a simple truth: we want a homeland, not a battleground; a
state, not a private farm; and a just peace that ends nearly six decades of
deception, false heroism, and revolutionary delusions. The solution lies in
mutual recognition between Lebanon and the State of Israel, Under the auspices
of the United Nations and the international community, Lebanon will return to
being "a land of message, creativity, freedoms and stars," not "a land of
graves."
Search Continues for Young
Woman Trapped Under the Rubble of a Collapsed Building in Qobbeh… Civil Defense
Reinforcements to Speed Up Rescue
Al-Markazia/January 25, 2026 (Translated from Arabic)
Search and rescue operations are ongoing, while contact remains cut off with the
young woman, Al-Yassar, trapped under the rubble of the collapsed building in
Tripoli for nearly 20 hours. In the latest developments, a large number of Civil
Defense personnel arrived in Qobbeh and at the site of the collapsed building
from the southern suburbs of Beirut, Baalbek, the South, Jib Jannine, and other
areas, to assist the teams working on removing the debris, in an attempt to
speed up operational steps to reach the presumed last survivor under the rubble.
Meanwhile, manual debris removal continues, as the relevant authorities, Civil
Defense, the Red Cross, and others are avoiding the use of heavy machinery in
order to give the trapped Al-Yassar a greater chance of survival. The mother and
her 14-year-old son are receiving treatment at Tripoli Governmental Hospital,
and their condition is stable. Residents of the building adjacent to the
collapsed structure in Qobbeh requested that the municipality inspect the site
after stones were observed falling. In Bab al-Tabbaneh, Tripoli Municipal Police
also requested the evacuation of a building due to the appearance of dangerous
cracks and structural fractures that threaten public safety.
Khreish: Acting Director General of Civil Defense, Brigadier General Imad
Khreish, supervised the rescue operations at the collapsed building. Speaking to
journalists at the site, he said: “We are working manually and are using four
teams, in addition to a team from the Red Cross. We are working together and
will continue until we reach Al-Yassar.” He added: “The work is being carried
out manually, and we are avoiding the use of bulldozers to give Al-Yassar more
chances of survival. We will continue with this approach until the very last
moment.”
Khreish continued: “We have teams, and another team will intervene later because
we are working between floors. Conditions are extremely harsh, with reinforced
concrete and debris. We are trying to deal with this and reach the presumed
location of Al-Yassar from three directions. We are also searching in other
areas. After communicating with Umm Omar, we asked her before and after she was
rescued about her daughter’s location. She indicated that Al-Yassar had not
moved far from her and was about to exit the building through the apartment
door.”
Building Evacuation: Head of the Order of Engineers in the North, Shawki Fattaf,
said in a television interview that: “The collapsed building in Qobbeh – Tripoli
was not among the 106 buildings threatened with collapse. We inspected a
building that was evacuated in Bab al-Tabbaneh, but no report regarding it has
reached us so far.”
Contact Lost with Young Woman Trapped Under Rubble… Stones Falling from Adjacent
Building and Evacuation Requested in Bab al-Tabbaneh
National News Agency/January 25/2026 (Translated from Arabic)
Tripoli – Search and rescue operations continue, while contact remains cut off
with the young woman trapped under the rubble of the collapsed building in
Tripoli for nearly 20 hours. The mother and her 14-year-old son are receiving
treatment at Tripoli Governmental Hospital, and their condition is stable.
Residents of the building adjacent to the collapsed building in Qobbeh requested
that the municipality inspect the site after stones were observed falling. In
Bab al-Tabbaneh, Tripoli Municipal Police also requested the evacuation of a
building due to the emergence of dangerous cracks and fractures that threaten
public safety.
Tripoli Municipality: Claims Circulating About Buildings at Risk of Collapse Are
Misleading
National News Agency/January 25/2026 (Translated from Arabic)
Tripoli Municipality stated in a statement that “what is being circulated by
some media outlets and social media platforms about buildings allegedly at risk
of collapse, or what is being promoted about random evacuations, includes
inaccurate and misleading information that could cause unjustified panic and
fear among citizens.” The municipality stressed that “a decision to evacuate any
property is only taken after completing on-site, engineering, technical, and
professional inspections by the competent engineering departments, in
coordination with the Order of Engineers, based on documented official reports
and in accordance with applicable legal procedures.” It emphasized that
“Municipal Police do not evacuate any building on their own initiative, but
strictly implement decisions officially issued by the municipality, and only in
cases where a real and direct danger to residents or public safety is
proven.”The municipality announced that in this context, “Municipal Police
notify the governor to request support from the Internal Security Forces to
accompany them during the implementation of necessary measures.”It called on
“media outlets and activists to exercise professional and national
responsibility, ensure accuracy in reporting information, and refrain from
circulating unverified news or alarmist descriptions.” It affirmed that “the
sole reference for any accurate and reliable information related to this file is
the official statements issued by Tripoli Municipality.”
Cracked Buildings Pose a Threat to Residents in Northern
Lebanon
Search Continues for Young Woman Under Rubble of Building
That Collapsed Saturday in Tripoli
Beirut: Hanan Hamdan/Asharq Al-Awsat/January 25/2026 (Translated from Arabic)
The humanitarian disaster that struck at dawn on Saturday (January 24) in
Tripoli, the capital of northern Lebanon, following the collapse of two
residential buildings in the Qobbeh area on Al-Jadid Street, has once again
brought the issue of old and cracked buildings to the forefront, due to the risk
of their sudden collapse on residents. More than 36 hours after the incident,
teams from Civil Defense and the Lebanese Red Cross continue their search for a
girl under the rubble of the collapsed building in Qobbeh. The teams were able
to rescue her mother, brother, and sister, who were transferred to Nini Hospital
in the city for treatment, while the father lost his life after his body was
recovered from the rubble on Saturday.
700 Cracked Buildings and Residents Clinging to Staying
In various neighborhoods of Tripoli—such as Al-Haddadin, Al-Zahriyeh, Bab al-Tabbaneh,
Jabal Mohsen, Daher al-Maghar, Al-Mahatra, Al-Nouri, and many others—old and
cracked buildings are widespread. Damage and cracks in walls and ceilings are
clearly visible, sometimes without the need for an engineering inspection.
The biggest problem is that residents insist on staying in these buildings,
refusing to leave due to their inability to move to safer housing and the lack
of financial support to provide alternative accommodation, despite some
buildings being abandoned and neglected.
According to figures issued by Tripoli Municipality, the number of buildings at
risk of collapse due to cracks is 700. These buildings require direct
intervention, including 105 buildings that pose a danger to residents and
require immediate evacuation.
An Old, Renewed Story
The crisis of cracked and dangerous buildings in Tripoli is very old, according
to the Head of the Order of Engineers in the North, Shawki Fattaf. He told
Asharq Al-Awsat:
“A large portion of these buildings dates back to between 1950 and 1970, meaning
their age ranges from 50 to 75 years.” He added that “most of these buildings
are neglected and have not undergone any maintenance or restoration, leading to
their current deteriorated state.” Regarding the number of buildings at risk,
Fattaf said that “the figures may be higher than those announced, as there is no
100 percent accurate census,” given the difficult condition of the buildings and
the many factors that could alter their classification. The most dangerous
aspect, he said, is that “some residents are not convinced to leave these
buildings for various reasons.”
Beyond Available Capabilities
Fattaf pointed out that the current situation is “beyond the capabilities of the
city and its residents” and requires official intervention. He noted ongoing
coordination with the High Relief Commission to secure temporary housing
allowances for residents of buildings at risk of collapse. He stressed the need
to address the issue in two phases: an initial, rapid reinforcement phase to
prevent collapse and protect lives regardless of architectural appearance,
followed by a restoration phase that requires substantial funding.
Evacuation Warnings
Residents fear a repeat of the same scene in Tripoli, with evacuation warnings
being issued to residents of other buildings at risk of collapse, turning daily
life into constant fear.
People in Tripoli are experiencing heightened anxiety following Saturday’s
building collapse, especially since officials say the building was not on the
list of “most dangerous” structures. This comes amid extremely difficult living
conditions, making alternative housing or building repairs unaffordable for most
residents without official intervention. Some residents benefit from old rent
contracts with extremely low rents.
Awaiting Funding
Acting North Lebanon Governor Iman Al-Rafei described the cracked buildings file
as “complex and intertwined,” confirming to Asharq Al-Awsat that work is ongoing
with relevant authorities, but that the main obstacle is securing funding. She
explained that previous efforts involved coordination between Tripoli
Municipality, the High Relief Commission, and the Order of Engineers to create a
database of at-risk buildings and conduct social surveys of resident families,
pending funding. “We need state intervention,” Al-Rafei stressed, noting that
Lebanese law places restoration costs on property owners, which is unrealistic
given current living conditions. She also highlighted the issue of water
accumulating in shelters as an additional crisis that could cause serious
damage, expressing hope for progress toward a sustainable solution—possibly
through establishing an officially managed donation fund in the future.
Lebanon says Israeli
strikes on south kill two
AFP/25 January/2026
Israeli strikes on south Lebanon killed two people on Sunday, the health
ministry reported, with Israel’s military saying it struck Hezbollah targets.
Israel has kept up regular strikes in Lebanon despite a November 2024 truce that
sought to end more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, usually saying it
is targeting members of the Iran-backed group or its infrastructure. In a
statement, Lebanon’s health ministry said “an Israeli enemy raid” near the town
of Khirbet Selm killed one person and wounded another five. It said a separate
strike in the village of Derdghaya killed one more person. The Israeli army said
it struck a “weapons manufacturing site” in the area of Khirbet Selm where it
had “identified the terrorist activity of Hezbollah operatives.”It also reported
a strike in the Derdghaya area, saying that “in response to Hezbollah’s repeated
violations of the ceasefire understandings,” it carried out an attack on a
member of the group there. The army said it struck “military infrastructure
sites belonging to Hezbollah” in the eastern Bekaa area as well. Lebanon’s
state-run National News Agency reported that one of the strikes in the south
targeted a hangar, while the one in Derdghaya targeted a car. The attack in the
east hit mountains near the town of Nabi Sheet, NNA said. On Wednesday, Israel
struck four crossings along the Syria-Lebanon border, alleging they were used by
Hezbollah to smuggle weapons. Lebanon’s army said this month it had completed
the first phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah, covering the area south of the
Litani river, around 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border.
Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming, has criticized the army’s
progress as insufficient, while Hezbollah has rejected calls to surrender its
weapons. More than 350 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since
the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of health ministry reports.
Israel attacks southern Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
Najia Houssari/Arab News/January 25, 2026
BEIRUT: Two people, including a Hezbollah member, were killed, and more than
five others injured on Sunday in Israeli airstrikes carried out without warning
on towns in southern Lebanon and the northern Bekaa Valley. The attacks came
while the Mechanism Committee, monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire
agreement between Lebanon and Israel, is experiencing “temporary paralysis.” The
date of its next meeting has yet to be confirmed, following the postponement of
a session scheduled for Jan. 14 without a clear explanation. Israeli airstrikes
targeted the towns of Bir Al-Salasel, Khirbet Selm, Kfar Dunin, Barish, and
Bazouriye, as well as the vicinity of the Nabi Sheet and Janta towns in the
northern Bekaa. The Lebanese Ministry of Health confirmed the fatality and
injuries, while an Israeli military spokesperson said that the army attacked
Hezbollah members working at a site used for producing weapons.
The strikes targeted a building where Hezbollah members were operating in the
Bir Al-Salasel area in southern Lebanon. The building was being used to produce
weapons, the spokesman said. The Israeli army claimed that its airstrikes on the
northern Bekaa targeted “Hezbollah military infrastructure,” adding that the
“Hezbollah members’ activity at the targeted sites constitutes a violation of
the agreements between Israel and Lebanon and poses a threat to Israel.” The
Mechanism Committee, headed by US Gen. Joseph Clearfield and tasked with
monitoring the implementation of the cessation-of-hostilities agreement between
Israel and Lebanon, is expected to resume its meetings on Feb. 25. The committee
leadership has not officially confirmed the date, which remains under discussion
among its members. An official Lebanese source told Arab News: “The failure of
the Mechanism Committee to convene on Jan. 14, following two meetings that were
held on Dec. 3 and 19 in Ras Al-Naqoura, indicates the existence of a crisis.”
The source said that “during the two previous meetings, Lebanon insisted on its
two demands for the return of residents to border villages from which they were
displaced and where their homes were destroyed, as well as the reconstruction of
these villages. These two clauses constitute the foundation upon which
negotiations must be built.”
The same source, who is involved in the Mechanism Committee’s meetings, said
that “Lebanon’s only gateway for addressing the Israeli envoy’s proposition
regarding the establishment of a border economic zone similar to a buffer zone
is that the border villages must be inhabited by their residents from the
Lebanese perspective. This condition cannot be overlooked under any
circumstances.” The source said that “this was discussed with the US side, in
particular, and the statement issued by the US on Dec. 19 regarding the
negotiations and the progress made by the Lebanese army south of the Litani
River presented acceptable evidence that Lebanon is now at the heart of the
negotiations.” The source added: “Lebanon called on the Mechanism Committee to
issue a statement endorsing the Lebanese army’s success in extending its control
south of the Litani River, including acknowledgment from the Israeli side.
“However, through the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel only
issued a statement referring to positives and negatives." Last week, Lebanese
Finance Minister Yassine Jaber confirmed to Arab News, in a special interview
from Davos on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, that “the proposal to
transform the Lebanese border area into an economic zone was immediately
rejected.” The official Lebanese source attributed the reasons for the
postponement of the latest Mechanism meeting to “a structural flaw within the
committee, and to a crisis affecting the American delegation related to regional
and international developments, in addition to an American-Israeli desire to
exclude the French representative.” The official source spoke of two dilemmas:
“There is an Israeli enemy persisting in its violations of the agreement and in
its attacks on Lebanon. “On the other hand, the
Israeli side submits evidence to the Mechanism Committee, including documents,
photos, and videos, regarding Hezbollah’s restoration of its capabilities, at a
time when its Secretary-General, Sheikh Naim Qassem, threatens civil war if
Hezbollah’s weapons north of the Litani River are touched.” The source added:
“For its part, the Lebanese Army presents evidence and documentation of what it
has accomplished south of the Litani. This means that the Lebanese Army is
achieving what it is capable of achieving with flesh and blood. It is aware of
the existence of remaining Hezbollah weapons depots and is pursuing them.” The
official source fears “a lack of progress in negotiations in light of all these
documents, high-pitched statements, and the American complaint about the slow
pace of negotiations.” He added: “The positions of Hezbollah officials do not
help Lebanon’s stance within the Mechanism Committee, particularly with regard
to capacity building.” The source said that “the adherence of the Hezbollah–Amal
Movement duo to the Mechanism Committee does not mean their approval of any
progress in negotiations. “When Lebanon proposes expanding the Lebanese
delegation to include, for example, a former minister, this constitutes
horizontal expansion rather than the vertical expansion that would serve the
negotiation process, which should involve specialized experts and technicians.
Consequently, any collapse of the ‘Mechanism’ meetings would mean that Lebanon
would be facing a very difficult moment. “It appears that the history of
Lebanese–Israeli negotiations is passing through its most dangerous phase today.
The world is no longer negotiating with Lebanon solely over its rights, but over
its ability to prevent war.” The official source also stressed that the
“Mechanism” constituted a fundamental point of intersection among the
participating states despite the difficulties affecting its work. He said: “The
suspension of the committee’s work could be reflected in the issue of the
exclusivity of weapons north of the Litani, as its absence would mean leaving
matters without controls, pushing Lebanon into an even worse phase.”
The official source said that “raising the level of representation of the
Lebanese delegation is not currently on the table, but it is an inevitable end
that Lebanon may reach according to the logic of events.” Lebanon is counting on
the anticipated visit of Army Commander Gen. Rodolphe Haykal to Washington early
next month, and on the Paris conference scheduled for March 5, to secure further
support for the plan to confine weapons north of the Litani River.
Israeli army claims it
struck Hezbollah site in southern Lebanon, targets infrastructure in Beqaa
LBCI/25 January/2026
The Israeli army said it carried out an air strike on a building in the Bir El
Sanasel area of southern Lebanon, claiming it was being used by Hezbollah
members as a site for producing military equipment. In a post on X, Israeli army
spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the strike targeted a structure where Hezbollah
operatives had been active in recent weeks, alleging that the location served as
a facility for manufacturing what he described as “means of combat.”According to
the statement, the Israeli military had been monitoring activities at the site
and considered them a violation of the understandings between Israel and
Lebanon. In a separate strike, Adraee said Israeli forces also targeted what he
described as Hezbollah military infrastructure in Beqaa. The Israeli army
claimed that the activities at the targeted locations posed a 'threat' to
Israel, adding that it would continue operations to ''counter what it considers
security risks.''
Israeli strike targets car near gas company between Maaroub
and Barich
LBCI/25 January/2026
Israeli strike targets car near gas company between Maaroub and Barich
An Israeli drone strike targeted a car near a gas company in the area between
the towns of Maaroub and Barich in southern Lebanon on Sunday.
Israeli airstrike targets area between Kfar Dounine and Bir
El Sanasel in South Lebanon
LBCI/25 January/2026
An Israeli airstrike targeted the area between the towns of Kfar Dounine and Bir
El Sanasel in the Bint Jbeil district of southern Lebanon on Sunday.
Lebanon PM says international force needed after UNIFIL
Reuters/January 25, 2026
CAIRO: Israeli fire killed three Palestinians in two separate incidents in the
Gaza Strip on Sunday, while an Israeli drone wounded four others in Gaza City,
local health authorities said on Sunday. Medics said Israeli fire killed at
least two people east of Tuffah neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip, while a
41-year-old man was killed by Israeli forces in Khan Younis, in the south of the
enclave. Earlier medical workers said an Israeli drone exploded on the rooftop
of a multi-floor building in Gaza City, wounding four civilians in the
street nearby.
There was no comment by the Israeli military on any of the incidents.
US ENVOYS MEET WITH ISRAEL PM NETANYAHU
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met in Israel on Saturday with Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, mainly to discuss Gaza, Witkoff said on
Sunday. “The discussion was constructive and positive,
with both sides aligned on next steps and the importance of continued
cooperation on all matters critical to the region,” Witkoff said in a post on X.
Gaza has been reduced to rubble in the war that was triggered by an attack by
the Palestinian militant group Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 in
which 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli tallies. The Gaza health
ministry says more than 71,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed by
Israeli fire since then. It also says that at least 480 people have been killed
by Israeli fire since a ceasefire agreement came into effect last October.
BOTH SIDES TRADE BLAME FOR VIOLATIONS
Israel has said four soldiers had been killed by militants in Gaza since the
ceasefire began. Both sides have traded blame for violations of the truce.
Earlier this month, Washington said the plan had moved into a second phase, in
which Israel is expected to withdraw troops further from Gaza, and Hamas is due
to yield control of the territory’s administration. Meanwhile, in Khan Younis,
more than 100 people attended the funeral of a person killed by Israeli drone
fire on Saturday, after holding special prayers in front of his white-shrouded
body at the morgue in Nasser Hospital. “They are liars, there is no ceasefire,”
said Fares Erheimat, a relative of the dead man, during the funeral.
Lebanon’s Weapons Monopoly Efforts to Shape International Support for the Army
Beirut: Paula Astih/Asharq Al Awsat/25 January/2026
The understanding between the quintet committee for Lebanon and President Joseph
Aoun over the planned conference in support of the army has raised questions on
whether the countries friendly to Lebanon have been asking for guarantees
related to the launch of the second phase of the state’s plan to impose state
monopoly over arms.The second phase tackles regions north of the Litani River,
while the first covered regions south of it and extending to the border with
Israel. The conference on the army is set to take
place in Paris on March 5. Many believe that countries
backing Lebanon are testing its seriousness in implementing the monopoly of
weapons north of the Litani, particularly as Army Commander General Rodolphe
Haykal is expected to present his plan to carry out the task in early February
after securing cabinet approval. Throughout, Hezbollah has firmly rejected
cooperation with the government and army over the disarmament plan. The
president had previously said the army needs one billion dollars annually for 10
years, and last week asked security agency chiefs to prepare detailed reports on
their needs to present to participants in the Paris conference.
Level of representation and aid
Security sources ruled out that the convening of the army support conference was
tied to the implementation of the second phase of the disarmament plan. They
argued that setting a fixed date for the meeting and having French President
Emmanuel Macron chair it makes it very difficult for international parties to
back away from holding it. Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat
that steps taken by the government and the army to monopolize weapons north of
the Litani will be reflected in the momentum surrounding the conference,
including the number of participating countries, the level of representation,
and the amount of aid that can be secured. If the
international community senses concrete steps in this direction, support will be
significantly greater, they said. MP Ghada Ayoub, of the Lebanese Forces bloc,
said once a date is set for a conference of this scale, it is rarely postponed
unless very exceptional circumstances arise. Therefore, March 5 should be
treated as confirmed until further notice, she told Asharq Al-Awsat. Ayoub
stressed the need to distinguish between holding the conference and the scale of
its outcomes. The conference itself is not tied to a direct condition. Still,
the level and type of support could be affected by the nature of the next phase
and by the state’s ability to assert its authority, foremost by enabling the
army to perform its role across all Lebanese territory. Ayoub that the primary
goal of the conference is to empower the Lebanese army and secure its financial
and logistical requirements, as well as to address its needs and demands,
because no state can be built and no stability can be protected without a
strong, well-equipped military. Riad Kahwaji, a researcher and writer
specializing in security and defense affairs, said support for the army is an
external political decision that hinges on its primary mission today which is to
disarm Hezbollah. Army leadership and the government are fully aware of this, he
told Asharq Al-Awsat, noting that any potential assistance program will be
centered on this task. Kahwaji said that arming the military will proceed from
the premise that confronting ISIS and al-Qaeda remains a task, but is no longer
a top priority, as this role is now tied to the Syrian state. As a result, the
army’s primary armament will remain focused on protecting borders, maintaining
internal stability, and imposing state monopoly over weapons.
Salam says Lebanon won't back down from 2nd phase of Hezbollah disarmament
Agence France Presse/January 25/2026
Lebanon will need some sort of international force after the withdrawal of the
United Nations's Unifil mission scheduled for 2027, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam
said during a visit to Paris. Some 10,800 U.N. peacekeepers have manned a buffer
zone between Israel and Lebanon since March 1978, but they will have one year to
leave Lebanon starting 31 December, under a resolution passed last August under
pressure from the United States and Israel. "We will always need an
international presence in the south, and preferably a U.N presence, given the
impartiality and neutrality that only the U.N. can provide," Nawaf Salam said
the day after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. The force would
need a mix of observers and peacekeepers, largely because of a "history of
hostility" with Israel, he added. U.N. peacekeepers currently operate in
southern Lebanon in cooperation with the Lebanese Army, part of a ceasefire
between Israel and Hezbollah in place since November 2024.While Israel was
supposed to withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon, it has maintained them in
five areas it considers strategic. It regularly conducts airstrikes in the
country on what it claims are Hezbollah sites and members, whom it accuses of
rearming. Questioned about Hezbollah's promised disarmament, Salam said Phase 2
of this process had begun "two weeks ago."The Lebanese Army says it has
completed the first phase, which calls for disarming Hezbollah south of the
Litani River. The second phase will involve disarmament between the Litani and
the Awali River, an area further north that has significant Hezbollah influence.
"I can clearly see that Phase 2 has different requirements than Phase 1," said
Salam, adding that Hezbollah's rhetoric had been "rather harsh."
"But let me be clear, we will not back down," he added.
Detainees issue sparks
tension between Hezbollah, families and Lebanese authorities
LBCI/25 January/2026
A woman carrying a photograph of her detained son entered the shrine of late
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Around her were
dozens of others whose family members—brothers, fathers, sons or husbands—are
held by Israel. For many, the sense of personal loss was intertwined with
reverence for Nasrallah, whom they have long viewed as a protector not just of
his party, but of their own sacrifices.Alongside these emotions, Hezbollah used
the gathering to voice its criticism of the Lebanese government, calling on
officials to fully implement the ministerial statement and the president’s oath
of office, particularly regarding ending Israeli occupation, reconstruction, and
the release of detainees. Sources at Baabda Palace told LBCI that the government
dispute is misplaced. President Joseph Aoun has repeatedly raised the detainees
issue in his meetings, including with the head of the International Committee of
the Red Cross during his recent New York visit. They said Israel has
consistently refused to allow the organization access to information on the
prisoners’ conditions. Government officials also emphasized to LBCI that the
detainees issue remains a top priority. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam continues to
press the matter in meetings with Arab and international leaders and U.N.
bodies, seeking pressure on Israel to release all detainees and provide details
on their whereabouts, health, and access to legal counsel. Despite Hezbollah’s
ongoing criticism and the obstacles posed by Israel’s refusal to cooperate, 20
Lebanese detainees remain in Israeli prisons, with their fate and conditions
still unknown.
Why Hezbollah’s Base Is Battling the President Digitally
Salam El Zaatari/This is Beirut/25 January/2026
If Lebanon were a normal country, the presidency would be the one place where
politics slows down, where disputes are processed through institutions, where
crises are turned into decisions, and where the state, at minimum, performs
statehood. But Lebanon is not a normal country. And that is why the recent surge
of pro-Hezbollah campaigning against President Joseph Aoun feels less like
ordinary criticism and more like a coordinated effort to reduce the presidency
to a symbolic, cautious, and permanently constrained role. The campaign against
Lebanon’s president is tailored for X and other social media: fast, repetitive,
and engineered for viral outrage, then reinforced by video clips that travel
across platforms and shows, edited into short moral indictments rather than
policy critiques. It reflects how modern political pressure feeds into an
ecosystem to create a sense of inevitability. In this ecosystem, two names stand
out: Hassan Olleik and Ali Berro, both linked to Hezbollah-aligned media space
and both central in circulating content that targeted not only Aoun’s positions
but the dignity of the presidency itself. L’Orient Today documented a campaign
“by individuals close to Hezbollah,” including journalists, that is circulating
videos against Aoun, triggered by his insistence that weapons must be
monopolized by the state. This reveals that Hezbollah and its supporters are
fighting on terrain where they still enjoy asymmetric advantage: narrative,
mobilization, and the politics of humiliation. This fight is over a future in
which the Lebanese state stops being an administrative shell and becomes a
sovereign authority with a monopoly on force. Every time Aoun speaks in favor of
this future, he touches on Hezbollah’s deepest vulnerability. The organization’s
legitimacy is built on the claim that its weapons are a “necessary exception”
because the state is weak, Israel is a threat, and the region is hostile. This
claim worked when the exception appeared to be temporary. When it became a
permanent fixture, the costs became unbearable.After years of economic collapse
and the destructive cycles of war, the public mood, inside and outside
Hezbollah’s base, has shifted from pride to fatigue. Fatigue is dangerous to
movements built on permanence. Fatigue makes people ask transactional questions:
What did we gain? What did we lose? Who pays? Who rebuilds?
That is where Aoun, who is not just another politician, becomes a problem. He is
a former army commander, meaning he can talk about the state’s authority without
sounding like a salon intellectual. And he came into office at a moment when
international assistance, reconstruction talk, and Lebanon’s re-entry into Arab
and Western diplomacy are all increasingly tied, explicitly or implicitly, to
one principle: the state must function. Aoun’s vision is for a Lebanon where the
militia exception ends.Hezbollah’s media ecosystem has reacted by attacking the
messenger and daring the state to overreact. Its counterattack is not just
against Aoun, but the very idea that the presidency can embody a new national
contract. The media campaign has taken a shrill tone, insulting the presidency
in an attempt to shift the debate from policy to identity.Hezbollah aims to
redefine disarmament as “betrayal,” sovereignty as “serving the Americans,”
reform as “targeting the resistance,” and any attempt at state authority as
“humiliating the people who defended the country.” If you cannot win the
argument on outcomes, then you try to make the audience feel attacked and
defensive. Beneath the campaign lies the quieter truth that Hezbollah is not
just angry at Aoun, it is anxious about the toll of time. With time,
“resistance” turns into routine, while citizens slowly begin to ask whether the
country can exist another decade with Hezbollah’s arms. The state’s response has
now added a new, combustible layer of judicial escalation. Al Jadeed reported
that the public prosecutor issued a “search and investigation” memo concerning
Ali Berro on grounds tied to “attacking the president,” and that Hassan Olleik
and others were summoned in connection with “insulting” Aoun. Al-Akhbar
previously reported a “search and investigation notice” related to Berro after
he refused to appear for questioning in an earlier case, illustrating that this
legal track has been building over time.This leaves Lebanon in a classic trap.
If the presidency and judiciary clamp down too hard, Hezbollah-aligned media can
sell it as persecution, proof that the “state” is merely a tool of
foreign-backed forces and that the resistance is under siege. If the presidency
does nothing, the campaign will succeed in degrading the office into a punchline
and demonstrate to every future president that sovereignty is mere rhetoric.
Aoun symbolizes the state’s attempt, imperfect and perhaps too late, to reclaim
its most basic right, the right to decide.
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous
Reports And News published
on January
25-26/2026
Video-Link From JNS Youtube Platform with Gad Saad/Gad Saad WARNS The Next Stage
of Islam's Takeover Will Be More Deadly Than You Think...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMfUl0KbOWs
Gad Saad delivers a field guide to
what he calls the West’s “approaching stage four” crisis, arguing that the
problem isn’t a lack of solutions, but a lack of will to implement them. You’ll
learn why he thinks universities incubate reality-denying ideologies, how a
small cadre of loud zealots can intimidate entire institutions into silence and
why “suicidal empathy” (good intentions without cultural or strategic clarity)
can become self-destruction, especially for Jews in the diaspora. Along the way,
he breaks down why some regions (including parts of the American South) are
becoming safer for visibly Jewish students, why political habits can override
self-interest and the practical antidote he keeps returning to: intellectual
courage, refusing to outsource responsibility and rebuilding a culture that
prizes truth over social comfort.
CHAPTERS
00:00 – Is the West “approaching stage four”? A cure exists but do we have the
will?
03:05 – Immigration, ideology and the limits of “freedom of religion” arguments
06:10 – “Read the writing on the wall”: Jews in the West and political
self-sabotage
10:05 – Why some U.S. campuses are shifting south (and what that signals)
13:20 – Trump won’t “fix it overnight”: how long these ideas took to spread
16:15 – Postmodern relativism vs. “the pesky shackles of reality”
20:35 – Academia’s problem: incentives, cowardice and the “bubble” effect
25:10 – Campus fear culture: why people self-censor like it’s “North Korea”
29:30 – Audience Q&A: courage, “inner honey badger,” and refusing to outsource
truth
35:10 – Jew-hatred psychology: “market-dominant minorities,” scapegoating and
the Semmelweis reflex
Iran Protest Death Toll Could Top 30,000: Local Officials
Kay Armin Serjoie, Roxana Saberi,
and Fatemeh Jamalpour/Time/January 25, 2026
Candles are placed next to printed portraits of some of the civilians killed in
protests in Iran on Jan. 24, in Inner Alster, Hamburg. Credit - Gregor
Fischer—AP
As many as 30,000 people could have been killed in the streets of Iran on Jan. 8
and 9 alone, two senior officials of the country’s Ministry of Health told
TIME—indicating a dramatic surge in the death toll. So many people were
slaughtered by Iranian security services on that Thursday and Friday, it
overwhelmed the state’s capacity to dispose of the dead. Stocks of body bags
were exhausted, the officials said, and eighteen-wheel semi-trailers replaced
ambulances.
The government’s internal count of the dead, not previously revealed, far
surpasses the toll of 3,117 announced on Jan. 21 by regime hardliners who report
directly to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. (Ministries report to the
elected President.) The 30,000 figure is also far beyond tallies being compiled
by activists methodically assigning names to the dead. As of Saturday, the
U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said it had confirmed 5,459 deaths
and is investigating 17,031 more.
TIME has been unable to independently verify these figures.The Health Ministry’s
two-day figure roughly aligns with a count gathered by physicians and first
responders, and also shared with TIME. That surreptitious tally of deaths
recorded by hospitals stood at 30,304 as of Friday, according to Dr. Amir
Parasta, a German-Iranian eye surgeon who prepared a report of the data. Parasta
said that number does not reflect protest-related deaths of people registered at
military hospitals, whose bodies were taken directly to morgues, or that
happened in locales the inquiry did not reach. Iran’s National Security Council
has said protests took place in around 4,000 locations across the country.
“We are getting closer to reality,” Dr. Parasta said. “But I guess the real
figures are still way higher.” That appears to be the reality implicit in the
government’s internal figure of more than 30,000 deaths in two days. A slaughter
on that scale, in the space of 48 hours, had experts on mass killing groping for
comparisons. “Most spasms of killing are not from shootings,” said Les Roberts,
a professor at Columbia University who specializes in the epidemiology of
violent death. “In Aleppo [Syria] and in Fallujah [Iraq], when spasms of death
this high have occurred over a few days, it involved mostly explosives with some
shooting.”The only parallel offered by online databases occurred in the
Holocaust. On the outskirts of Kyiv on Sept. 29 and 30, 1941, Nazi death squads
executed 33,000 Ukrainian Jews by gunshot in a ravine known as Babyn Yar.
In Iran, the killing fields extended across the country where, since Dec. 28,
hundreds of thousands of citizens had assembled in the streets chanting first,
for relief from an economy in freefall, and soon for the downfall of the Islamic
regime. During the first week, security forces confronted some demonstrations,
using mostly non-lethal force, but with officials also offering conciliatory
language, the regime response was uncertain. That changed during the weekend
commencing Jan. 8. Protests peaked, as opposition groups, including Reza
Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s former shah, urged people to join the throngs,
and U.S. President Donald Trump repeated vows to protect them, though no help
arrived. Witnesses say millions were in the streets when authorities shut down
the internet and all other communications with the outside world. Rooftop
snipers and trucks mounted with heavy machine guns opened fire, according to
eyewitnesses and cell phone footage. On Friday, Jan. 9, an official of the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned on state television to anyone venturing
into the streets, “if … a bullet hits you, don’t complain.”
It took days for the reality to penetrate the internet blackout. Images of the
bloodied bodies trickled out via illicit Starlink satellite internet
connections. The task of counting the dead was hampered, however, because the
authorities had also cut off lines of communications inside Iran. The first firm
information came from a Tehran doctor who told TIME that just six hospitals in
the capital had recorded at least 217 protester deaths after Thursday’s assault.
Health care workers in Iran estimated at least 16,500 protesters had been killed
by Jan. 10, according to an earlier report by Dr. Parasta in Munich. Friday’s
update built on that research, he said. “I am genuinely impressed by how quickly
this work was pulled together under extremely constrained and risky conditions,”
said Paul B. Spiegel, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University International
School of Health. Like Roberts, he expressed wariness of extrapolating from the
figures provided by hospitals. Roberts, who traveled into war zones to research
civilian death rates in Iraq and the Democratic Republic of Congo, said, “the
30,000 verified deaths are almost certainly an underestimate.” The emergence of
the Ministry of Health numbers appears to confirm that—while underscoring the
stakes for both Iranians and a regime that, in 1979, came to power when a
sitting government was confronted by millions of people demanding its downfall.
On Friday, Jan. 9, Sahba Rashtian, an aspiring animation artist, joined friends
on the streets in Isfahan, a city in central Iran famous for its beauty. "Before
anyone started chanting," a friend told TIME, "Sahba was seen collapsed on the
ground. Her sister noticed blood on her hand.”Sahba died on an operating table
at a nearby hospital. She was 23. “She always joked about her beautiful name,”
her friend said. “She’d laugh and say, ‘Sahba means wine, and I am forbidden in
the Islamic Republic.’”At the burial, the friend said, religious rites were
barred, and Rashtian’s father wore white. “Congratulations,” he told mourners,
according to the friend. “My daughter became a martyr on the path to freedom.”
Iran unveils mural warning of
retaliation if US conducts a military strike
Al Arabiya English/25 January/2026
A new mural unveiled in a central Tehran square on Sunday contains a direct
warning by Iran to the United States to not attempt a military strike on the
country. The painted image of several damaged planes on the flight deck of an
aircraft carrier bears the slogan: “If you sow the wind, you will reap the
whirlwind.” The unveiling of the mural in Enghelab Square comes as the USS
Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and accompanying warships move towards the
region. US President Donald Trump has said the ships are being moved “just in
case” he decides to take action.
“We have a massive fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won’t have to
use it,” Trump said Thursday. Enghelab Square is used for gatherings called by
the state, and authorities change its mural based on national occasions. On
Saturday, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
warned that his force is “more ready than ever, finger on the trigger.” Tension
between the US and Iran has spiked in the wake of a brutal crackdown on
nationwide protests that saw thousands of people killed and tens of thousands
arrested. Trump had threatened military action if Iran continued to kill
peaceful protesters or carried out mass executions of those detained. There have
been no further protests for days, and Trump claimed recently that Tehran had
halted the executions of about 800 arrested protesters – a claim Iran’s top
prosecutor called “completely false.”But Trump has indicated he is keeping his
options open, saying on Thursday that any military action would make last June’s
US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites “look like peanuts.”US Central Command said
on social media that its Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle now has a presence in the
Middle East, noting the fighter jet “enhances combat readiness and promotes
regional security and stability.”Similarly, the UK Ministry of Defense said
Thursday that it deployed its Typhoon fighter jets to Qatar “in a defensive
capacity.”The protests in Iran began on Dec. 28, sparked by the fall of the
Iranian currency, the rial, and quickly spread across the country. They were met
by a violent crackdown by Iran’s theocracy, which does not tolerate dissent. The
death toll reported by activists has continued to rise since the end of the
demonstrations, as information trickles out despite a more than two-week
internet blackout – the most comprehensive in Iran’s history. The US-based Human
Rights Activists News Agency on Sunday put the death toll at 5,459, with the
number expected to increase. It says more than 40,800 people have been arrested.
The group’s figures have been accurate in previous unrest and rely on a network
of activists in Iran to verify deaths. That death toll exceeds that of any other
round of protest or unrest there in decades, and recalls the chaos surrounding
Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran’s government has put the death toll at a
far lower 3,117, saying 2,427 were civilians and security forces, and labeled
the rest “terrorists.” In the past, Iran’s theocracy has undercounted or not
reported fatalities from unrest.
With the Associated Press
Military intervention in
Iran ‘not the preferred option,’ French minister says
AFP/25 January/2026
Military intervention in Iran, where authorities launched a deadly crackdown on
protesters that killed thousands, is not France’s preferred option, its armed
forces minister said Sunday. “I think we must support the Iranian people in any
way we can,” Alice Rufo said on the political broadcast “Le Grand Jury.” But “a
military intervention is not the preferred option” for France, she said, adding
it was “up to the Iranian people to rid themselves of this regime.”Rufo lamented
how hard it was to “document the mass crimes the Iranian regime has carried out
against its population” due to a widespread internet shutdown.
Iran’s more than 90 million people have been largely cut off from the internet
since authorities imposed a blackout on January 8 amid major protests sweeping
the country. Under the cover of the blackout, they launched a violent crackdown
on protesters, with rights groups documenting several thousand dead and the
Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights saying the final figure could top 25,000. The
Iranian government has put the toll at 3,117, including 2,427 it has labelled
“martyrs,” a term used to distinguish members of the security forces and
innocent bystanders from those described by authorities as “rioters” it claims
were incited by the US and Israel. “The Iranian people reject their regime. The
fate of the Iranian people belongs to Iranians, and it is not for us to choose
their leaders,” said Rufo. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened
to launch military strikes on Iran in response to the crackdown, but has since
appeared to walk back those threats after he said Tehran suspended planned
executions. Protests sparked by economic grievances erupted in Tehran on
December 28 but turned into a mass movement demanding the removal of the
clerical system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution.
Iran Judicial Chief Says
Protest Instigators to Receive No Leniency
Asharq Al-Awsat/January 25/2026
The head of Iran's judiciary warned on Sunday that those behind a recent wave of
anti-government protests could expect punishment "without the slightest
leniency". What began earlier this month as demonstrations against the high cost
of living boiled over into a broader protest movement that represented the
gravest challenge to the country's clerical leadership in years. The protests
have abated following a government crackdown, carried out under an internet
blackout that left the country largely cut off from the outside world. "The
people rightly demand that the accused and the main instigators of the riots and
the acts of terrorism and violence be tried as quickly as possible and punished
if found guilty," judicial chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei was quoted as saying
by the official Mizan online news portal. He went on to say "the greatest rigor
must be applied in the investigations," but insisted that "justice entails
judging and punishing without the slightest leniency the criminals who took up
arms and killed people, or committed arson, destruction and massacres".The
Iranian government has put the death toll from the protests at 3,117, including
2,427 people it has labelled "martyrs" -- a term used to distinguish members of
the security forces and innocent bystanders from those described by authorities
as "rioters" incited by the US and Israel. Rights groups, however, have said
protesters account for the vast majority of the deaths, documenting several
thousand killed, with the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights saying the final
figure could top 25,000 dead.
'Just in case' -
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has said more than
26,000 people have been arrested in relation to the demonstrations. Iran is the
world's second most prolific user of the death penalty after China, and the
soaring number of arrests and vows of stiff punishment have raised fears it
could use executions to repress dissent. US President Donald Trump has
threatened to intervene militarily should Iran begin putting protest suspects to
death, but has recently softened his rhetoric after claiming Tehran had
suspended planned executions. On Thursday, he told reporters on the way back
from Davos that the United States was nonetheless sending a "massive fleet"
toward Iran "just in case". The United States carried out strikes on Iranian
nuclear facilities in June when it briefly joined Israel's 12-day war against
the country. Rights groups have accused authorities of repeatedly using live
ammunition on protesters, but Colonel Mehdi Sharif Kazemi, commander of Iran's
special police, maintained authorities had used only non-lethal measures such as
water cannons to quell the unrest. "The use of weapons (by the police) during
this operation has sparked some criticism, but in fact, the police did not
resort to using any firearms," he was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency
on Sunday. "We used non-lethal means in order to guarantee the safety of the
population and avoid any killings."
US university fires
daughter of senior Iranian official Ali Larijani
Al Arabiya English/25 January/2026
Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta has announced that the daughter
of senior Iranian official Ali Larijani, Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, is no longer
employed by the university, the student-run school newspaper reported on
Saturday. Citing Emory University School of Medicine Dean Sandra Wong, the paper
said an email was sent to medical school faculty on Jan. 24 announcing that a
doctor who is also the daughter of a senior Iranian government official is no
longer a University employee. The news came in light of Iran protests that left
thousands dead and also after a protest by Iranian-American demonstrators, who
gathered outside Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute to oppose the employment, the
paper said.“Before her departure from Emory, Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani was an
assistant professor in the department of hematology and medical oncology at the
medical school,” the Emory Wheel reported. It added that Ardeshir-Larijani’s
Emory faculty page and Emory Healthcare pages were no longer visible as of Jan.
24. The paper also cited a statement from Andrea Clement, the associate director
of public relations at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, who said
that the issue was a “personnel matter.”“Emory is committed to advancing patient
care, research, and education,” Clement said, according to the Emory Wheel. “Our
employees are hired in full compliance with state and federal laws and other
applicable requirements.”Ali Larijani is the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme
National Security Council. He was sanctioned by the US on January 15 among other
officials. At the time the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign
Assets Control (OFAC) said it was “taking action against the architects of the
Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrators.”
Syria opens humanitarian
corridor to Kurdish town of Kobane after ceasefire extended
FRANCE 24/January 25, 2026
Syria's military said on Sunday it had opened a humanitarian corridor to the
Kurdish-majority town of Kobane, filled with people displaced by recent clashes,
as a UN convoy carrying life-saving aid headed there. The aid came as the Syrian
government and Kurdish forces extended a ceasefire agreement by 15 days, after
Kurdish forces relinquished swathes of territory to government troops. Earlier
this week, residents in Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab in Arabic, told AFP
that they lacked food, water and power and that the enclave was flooded with
people who had fled the Syrian army's advances. In a statement, the Syrian
military said it was opening two corridors, one to Kobane and another in nearby
Hasakeh province to allow "the entry of aid". Gonzalo Vargas Llosa,
representative of the United Nations' refugee agency in Syria, said on X that
"thanks to the cooperation with the Syrian government... a convoy of 24 trucks
carrying essential food, relief items, and diesel" departed for Kobane "to
deliver life-saving and winter assistance to civilians affected by the
hostilities".The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) lost large areas to
government forces during the weeks-long clashes, and find themselves restricted
to Kurdish-majority areas in the northeast and Kobane in the north.The town is
surrounded by the Turkish border to the north and government forces on all
sides. It is around 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the Kurds' stronghold in
Syria's far northeast. Kobane, which Kurdish forces liberated from a lengthy
siege by the Islamic State group in 2015, became a symbol as their first major
victory against the jihadists. On Saturday, Syria's government and Kurdish
forces extended their truce with Damascus saying it was intended to support the
US transfer of Islamic State group detainees from Syria to prisons in Iraq,
which started earlier this week. (FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Syria frees 126 minors
after taking prison from Kurdish forces: State media
Al Arabiya English/25 January/2026
Syria’s government freed at least 126 minors being held in a northern prison on
Saturday, state media reported, after taking over the facility from Kurdish
forces as part of an agreement. Footage on state television showed crowds
gathered to welcome the released minors, while Syria’s official SANA news agency
published the names of the remaining detainees, allowing people to look for them
online. State television reported “the release... of 126 detainees under the age
of 18 from al-Aqtan prison” in Raqa province, which has been used to hold ISIS
detainees. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) did not immediately
respond to a request for comment. Under military pressure from Damascus, which
is seeking to extend its control across the country, the SDF has relinquished
swathes of territory in recent days and withdrawn to parts of Hasakeh province
in the far northeast. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa had announced a deal with
SDF chief Mazloum Abdi that included a ceasefire and the integration of the
Kurds’ de facto autonomous administration into the state, which will take
responsibility for ISIS prisoners. Kurdish fighters were transferred from the
prison on Friday to the Kurdish-held city of Ain al-Arab, also known as Kobane,
in Aleppo province on the northern border with Turkey. The same day, SANA quoted
the army as saying the al-Aqtan transfer was “the first step in implementing the
January 18 agreement under which the interior ministry will take over
administration of the prison.”With AFP
Israel army investigates soldier over Palestinian’s fake abduction
AFP/25 January/2026
Israel’s military said Sunday it had launched an investigation into a soldier
who reportedly fabricated a kidnapping of a Palestinian detainee and demanded
ransom from his family. The Palestinian man had been detained at a holding
facility when a military police guard photographed him and sent the image to his
family, falsely claiming he had been kidnapped, the Times of Israel reported. In
a separate report, Israeli Army Radio said the soldier demanded the family
transfer money in exchange for his release. Confirming the case to AFP, the
military said an investigation had been launched but declined to provide
details. “Following the incident, an inquiry has been opened by the Internal
Inquiry Unit,” it said in a statement. “We will not provide details of the
inquiry while it is ongoing.”The Palestinian had been detained while attempting
to enter Israel illegally from the occupied West Bank, the Times of Israel
reported. Israeli security officials say a significant number of Palestinians
from the West Bank attempt to enter Israel illegally, often by climbing over a
barrier separating Jerusalem from the Palestinian territory. They are driven
largely by economic hardship and the loss of work permits since the start of the
Gaza war, Palestinian officials say. Most of them are arrested, while some have
died or been injured fleeing from Israeli forces, Palestinian officials add. An
Israeli parliamentary committee said in October that around 6,000 Palestinians
attempted to enter Israel in this way last year, with about 5,300 arrested.
Israel began building the barrier at the height of the second Palestinian
intifada that erupted in 2002, saying it was needed to maintain security amid
suicide bombings in Jerusalem and Israeli cities. The barrier cuts into many
parts of the West Bank, and Palestinians see it as a land grab and de facto
border illegal under international law. Palestinians also say the barrier has
exacerbated an economic crisis in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since
1967.
US Reports Constructive
Talks with Israel's Netanyahu on Gaza Plan
Asharq Al Awsat/25 January/2026
US officials' discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the
second phase of President Donald Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza were
constructive, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday. "The United
States and Israel maintain a strong and longstanding relationship built on
close coordination and shared priorities, Reuters reported. The discussion
was constructive and positive, with both sides aligned on next steps and the
importance of continued cooperation on all matters critical to the region,"
Witkoff said in an X post. The talks were held on Saturday, he said.
Israel Says Searching for
Remains of Last Hostage at Northern Gaza Cemetery
Asharq Al Awsat/25 January/2026
Israeli forces were searching a cemetery in Gaza for the remains of Ran Gvili,
the last hostage still held in the Palestinian territory, Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Sunday. The announcement came shortly after
Hamas's armed wing said in a statement that it had provided information on the
location of the slain police officer's body. "The operation is taking place at a
cemetery in northern Gaza and involves extensive search efforts, making full use
of all available intelligence. This effort will continue for as long as
necessary," Netanyahu's office said. The Israeli military confirmed troops were
engaged in a "targeted operation in the area of the Yellow Line in northern Gaza
to retrieve the body" of Gvili. Under a US-brokered ceasefire that came into
effect on October 10, Israeli forces have withdrawn to positions in Gaza behind
the so-called "Yellow Line", though they remain in control of more than half of
the territory. Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas's Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades,
had said on Sunday that the group "provided mediators with all the details and
information in our possession regarding the location of the captive's body".
Obeida added in his Telegram post that "the enemy (Israel) is currently
searching one of the sites based on information transmitted by the Al-Qassam
Brigades".All of the 251 people taken hostage during Hamas's October 7, 2023
attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war have since been returned, both
living and dead, except for Gvili. A non-commissioned officer in the Israeli
police's elite Yassam unit, Gvili was killed in action on the day of the attack
and his body taken to Gaza.
Netanyahu to brief
opposition leader amid questions over timing of potential Iran strike
LBCI/25 January/2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet on Tuesday with
opposition leader Yair Lapid to brief him on developments related to the Iranian
file and the northern border. The meeting follows talks Netanyahu held with U.S.
Central Command chief General Brad Cooper, according to reports circulated on
Sunday.The planned meeting has raised questions about its timing — specifically,
whether it will take place before or after a potential U.S. strike on Iran. It
is customary in Israel for the prime minister to brief the leader of the
opposition on exceptional security decisions.
However, past precedents suggest that maneuvering is possible. In a previous
instance, ahead of Israel’s most recent strike on Iran, Israeli authorities
deflected attention by convening a cabinet meeting while military operations
were already underway. Separately, and following Cooper’s departure from Tel
Aviv, Israeli media reported that U.S. forces had completed their deployment in
the region in preparation for a potential attack.At the same time, the Israeli
military has been raising its level of internal readiness to respond to any
development, including the possibility of a preemptive Iranian strike against
Israel. According to archived information, Cooper’s talks in Israel were limited
to meetings with Israeli army chief of staff Eyal Zamir and senior security
officials. The discussions focused on defensive coordination between the two
militaries ahead of the expected operation. Israeli security officials have said
that U.S. President Donald Trump is not expected to authorize an attack before
the full deployment of defensive and offensive forces across the Middle East is
completed. Militarily, Israeli officials say U.S. preparations are moving
increasingly closer to Iran and include the deployment of:
* One aircraft carrier
* Six warships
* Two submarines
* More than 100 fighter jets
* Dozens of aerial refueling and intelligence aircraft
* Missile defense systems against ballistic missiles
* Hundreds of cruise missiles
Israeli fire kills three in Gaza, as US seeks to advance
Gaza deal
Reuters/25 January/2026
Israeli fire killed three Palestinians in two separate incidents in the Gaza
Strip on Sunday, while an Israeli drone wounded four others in Gaza City, local
health authorities said on Sunday. Medics said Israeli fire killed at least two
people east of Tuffah neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip, while a
41-year-old man was killed by Israeli forces in Khan Younis, in the south of
the enclave. Earlier medical workers said an Israeli drone exploded on the
rooftop of a multi-floor building in Gaza City, wounding four civilians in the
street nearby. An Israeli military spokesperson said they were not aware of any
incident in Khan Younis involving a Palestinian being killed by gunfire. The
spokesperson had no immediate comment on the other reported shooting of
Palestinians in Tuffah.
US envoys meet with Netanyahu
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met in Israel on Saturday with Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, mainly to discuss Gaza, Witkoff said on
Sunday.“The discussion was constructive and positive, with both sides aligned on
next steps and the importance of continued cooperation on all matters critical
to the region,” Witkoff said in a post on X. Gaza has been reduced to rubble in
the war that was triggered by an attack by the Palestinian militant group
Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 in which 1,200 people were killed,
according to Israeli tallies. The Gaza health ministry says more than 71,000
people, mostly civilians, have been killed by Israeli fire since then. It also
says that at least 480 people have been killed by Israeli fire since a
ceasefire agreement came into effect last October.
Both sides trade blame for violations
Israel has said four soldiers had been killed by militants in Gaza since the
ceasefire began. Both sides have traded blame for violations of the truce.
Earlier this month, Washington said the plan had moved into a second phase, in
which Israel is expected to withdraw troops further from Gaza, and Hamas is due
to yield control of the territory’s administration. Meanwhile, in Khan Younis,
more than 100 people attended the funeral of a person killed by Israeli drone
fire on Saturday, after holding special prayers in front of his white-shrouded
body at the morgue in Al-Nasser Hospital. “They are liars, there is no
ceasefire,” said Fares Erheimat, a relative of the dead man, during the funeral.
UK Police arrest 86 people at prison protest for Palestine Action hunger striker
Arab News/January 25, 2026
LONDON: A protest outside a prison in the UK in support of a man detained for
supporting the banned group Palestine Action has led to the arrest of 86 people.
London’s Metropolitan Police said a group of demonstrators breached the grounds
of Wormwood Scrubs prison in the capital, refused to leave when ordered to do
so, and threatened officers. They were arrested on suspicion of aggravated
trespass. The group, several of whom attempted to gain access to the prison
itself, were protesting in support of Umer Khalid, who is currently on hunger
strike at the facility. Khalid is one of five people charged in relation to a
break-in by Palestine Action members at an RAF base at Brize Norton last year,
in which two military aircraft were damaged. Khalid, who denies the charges, is
one of several people who are on or who have taken part in hunger strikes in
recent months, all of whom have been held on similar charges for over a year
without their cases being brought to trial. A spokesperson for the UK’s Ministry
of Justice said: “The escalation of the protest at HMP Wormwood Scrubs is
completely unacceptable. While we support the right to peacefully protest,
reports of trespassing and threats being made to staff and police officers are
deeply concerning. “At no point was prison security compromised. However, where
individuals’ actions cause risk or actual harm to hardworking staff, this will
not be taken lightly and those responsible can expect to face consequences.
“Prisoners are being managed in line with longstanding policy. This includes
regular checks by medical professionals, heart monitoring and blood tests, and
support to help them eat and drink again. If deemed appropriate by healthcare
teams, prisoners will be taken to hospital.”
Iraq Urges International
Community to Help it Shoulder ISIS Burden
Baghdad: Hamza Mustafa/Asharq Al Awsat/25 January/2026
The transfer of ISIS detainees from northeastern Syria could saddle Iraq with
annual costs of up to $25 million, an Iraqi government source said on Saturday.
The source said the number of detainees stands at around 7,000 members and that
the cost of feeding them is estimated at roughly 33 billion Iraqi dinars a year,
or about $25 million, according to Shafaq News. The comments came as Foreign
Minister Fuad Hussein said Iraq should not shoulder alone the security and
financial burdens resulting from the transfer of ISIS prisoners from Syria to
Iraq. In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said Hussein made the remarks during
a phone call with the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs
and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, during which they discussed developments in
Syria and the issue of prisons holding ISIS members. The statement said the
officials discussed security risks arising from the escape of several ISIS
members from some prisons outside the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces,
as well as the security situation in Syria’s Hasakah province. They also
stressed the importance of resolving disputes peacefully. Hussein was quoted as
saying that responsibility for dealing with the ISIS detainee file “must be
borne by all concerned countries and should not fall on Iraq alone.”Earlier this
week, the US military’s US Central Command said its forces had transferred 150
ISIS detainees from a detention facility in Syria’s Hasakah to Iraq, adding that
the move was intended to prevent their escape. Reuters quoted a US official as
saying Washington expects the transfer of up to 7,000 detainees from prisons in
Syria to Iraq to be completed in the coming days, noting that hundreds of
detainees could be moved daily across the border.
Political debate
Falih al-Fayyad, head of Iraq’s pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces, said Iraq
had received the first batch of detainees, adding that the government would
begin talks with the international coalition to shoulder the costs associated
with transferring the rest. Fayyad said most of the detainees are wanted by the
Iraqi judiciary and will stand trial under Iraqi law, adding that their transfer
to prisons inside Iraq “serves security interests” compared with keeping them in
unstable detention facilities outside the country. The transfer of the detainees
has sparked political and media debate in Iraq, amid concerns over the financial
and security burdens involved. At the same time, the government says the issue
is being handled as a national security matter in coordination with the
international coalition. Separately, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani
discussed with US Central Command commander Brad Cooper the timeline for the
transfer, stressing the importance of security coordination to prevent any
potential threats to Iraq and the region. Sabah al-Numan, spokesman for the
commander-in-chief of the armed forces, said the government had ordered the
completion of a concrete wall along the Syrian border, which is 80% complete.
Numan said the transferred detainees are wanted on terrorism charges and will be
held in fortified prisons, adding that the transfer “will be carried out under a
tightly coordinated plan prepared by the Joint Operations Command and the
relevant security agencies, in coordination with the Ministry of Justice, which
has prepared an integrated plan to accommodate them inside Iraqi prisons.”
Iraqi lawmakers to elect president this week, PM
appointment next
Al Arabiya English/25 January/2026
Iraq’s parliament will meet on Tuesday to elect the country’s new president, who
will then appoint a prime minister expected to be Nouri al-Maliki after he was
endorsed by the largest Shia bloc. By convention, a Shia Muslim holds the post
of prime minister, the parliament speaker is Sunni and the largely ceremonial
presidency goes to a Kurd. Parliamentary speaker Haibat al-Halbussi announced on
Sunday that the new parliament will convene on Tuesday to elect a president,
according to the official INA press agency. The president will then have 15 days
to appoint a prime minister, who is usually nominated by the largest Shia bloc
formed through post-election alliances. On Saturday, the Coordination Framework
alliance -- whose Shia factions have varying links to Iran -- endorsed former
prime minister and powerbroker al-Maliki as the country’s next premier. The
alliance, to which al-Maliki belongs, spoke of his “political and administrative
experience and his record in running the state.”Kurdish parties have yet to
agree on a presidential candidate, who must be endorsed by other blocs and win a
two-thirds majority in parliament. The presidency is usually held by the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). This year, the rival Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP) named its own candidate: Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein. Although al-Maliki’s
endorsement effectively guarantees him the post, forming a new government
remains a daunting challenge that could drag on for months and still fail.
The designated premier has one month to form a government and present it to
parliament for a vote of confidence. The 75-year-old al-Maliki is set to return
to power at a time of seismic changes in the Middle East, as Tehran’s regional
influence wanes and tensions with Washington rise. Government formation in Iraq
must balance internal political dynamics and power-sharing among major parties,
all under the continued influence of Iraq’s two main allies: Iran and the United
States. A close Iran ally, al-Maliki will be expected to address Washington’s
longstanding demand that Baghdad dismantle Tehran-backed factions, many of which
are designated terrorist groups by the US. Last month, Iraqi officials and
diplomats told AFP that Washington demanded the eventual government exclude
Iran-backed armed groups, even though most of them hold seats in parliament, and
have seen their political and financial clout increase. But Iraq is struggling
with weak economic growth and cannot risk punitive measures by the US, which has
already sanctioned several Iraqi entities, accusing them of helping Tehran evade
sanctions. With AFP
Zelenskyy seeks more air
defense as Russia plunges Kyiv into cold
AFP/25 January/2026
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought more air defense support from
allies on Sunday as hundreds of buildings in Kyiv were without heating in
freezing temperatures for a second day after Russian strikes. Russia has hit
Ukrainian energy infrastructure throughout the nearly four-year war, but Kyiv
says this winter has been the toughest with hundreds of Russian drones and
missiles overwhelming air defenses during particularly fierce frosts. “This week
alone, the Russians have launched more than 1,700 attack drones, over 1,380
guided aerial bombs, and 69 missiles of various types,” the president said as he
arrived in Vilnius. “That is why missiles for air defense systems are needed
every day, and we continue working with the United States and Europe to ensure
stronger protection of our skies,” he added. Russian bombardments have hit Kyiv
particularly hard, forcing half a million people to evacuate. “There are
currently 1,676 high-rise apartment buildings in Kyiv without heating following
the enemy’s attack on Kyiv city on January 24,” said mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Sub-zero temperatures and repeated air strikes have slowed efforts by repair
crews working to restore heating and electricity. In Vilnius, Zelenskyy was
taking part in a ceremony to commemorate the 1863 uprising in Poland and
Lithuania against Tsarist Russia. Polish President Karol Nawrocki, who also
attended the event, drew a parallel between the Russian invasion of Ukraine and
past struggles for freedom by peoples in the Russian empire. “The message of
these celebrations is that by looking to the past for what we have in common,
it’s easier today to face the problems ahead of us. Especially in an era of the
revival of imperial Russia,” his office said on X. Poland and Lithuania are
among the staunchest supporters of Kyiv in the European Union, and both have
recently supplied hundreds of generators to the war-torn country. US-brokered
talks with Russia and Ukraine on Washington’s plan to end the war ended with no
apparent breakthrough on Saturday. Still, Zelenskyy said the negotiations were
“constructive,” and both sides have agreed to meet in Abu Dhabi again next week.
‘Risk of mass violence against civilians’ in S. Sudan: UN
experts
AFP/25 January/2026
The situation in South Sudan is heightening “the risk of mass violence against
civilians,” independent UN experts warned on Sunday as fresh conflict grips the
country.
The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan in a statement expressed “grave
alarm” at fighting in Jonglei state north of the capital Juba, where witnesses
have described civilians fleeing into swamps. The world's youngest country has
been beset by war, poverty and massive corruption since it was formed in 2011,
but violence is once again on the rise between rival factions. A power-sharing
agreement between the two main sides is all but dead after President Salva Kiir
moved against his vice-president and long-time rival, Riek Machar, who was
arrested last March and is now on trial for “crimes against humanity.’ Their
forces have fought several times over the past year, but the most sustained
clashes began in late December in Jonglei. Public statements by commanders
encouraging violence against civilians, along with troop mobilization,
“represent a dangerous escalation at a moment when the political foundations of
the peace process are already severely weakened,” the UN commission said. Army
chief Paul Nang Majok on Wednesday ordered troops deployed in the region to
“crush the rebellion” within seven days. Local media have also quoted a senior
army official as saying “no one should be spared, not even the elderly.”The UN
mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said it was “gravely concerned” about the public
declarations. “Inflammatory rhetoric calling for violence against civilians,
including the most vulnerable, is utterly abhorrent and must stop now,” said
UNMISS head Graham Maitland. Renewed fighting in South Sudan has displaced more
than 180,000 people, according to the country's authorities. Kiir and Machar
fought a five-year war shortly after independence that claimed 400,000 lives. A
2018 power-sharing deal kept the peace for some years but plans to hold
elections and merge their armies did not materialize.
Indian captain of suspected Russian shadow tanker in French
custody
AFP/25 January/2026
France on Sunday took into custody the Indian captain of an oil tanker suspected
of belonging to Russia’s sanctions-busting “shadow fleet” for the vessel failing
to fly a flag, prosecutors said. The 58-year-old captain was in charge of the
tanker, the Grinch, which was seized by the French navy in the Mediterranean on
Thursday and is now moored, under guard, at a southern French port near
Marseille. The Marseille prosecutors’ office, in charge of investigating the
case, said the rest of the ship’s crewmembers -- all also Indians -- were being
“kept on board.” The French navy escorted it to the Gulf of Fos in southern
France, the regional maritime prefecture said in a statement on Saturday. The
vessel will be kept at the disposal of the Marseille public prosecutor as part
of a preliminary investigation for failure to fly a flag, it added. The captain
and crew will also be questioned, according to a source close to the case. The
tanker was at anchor about 500 meters off the town of Martigues, an AFP
photographer observed on Sunday morning. A French navy ship and two gendarmerie
patrol boats were stationed nearby. The prefecture said nautical and air
exclusion zones had been established around the anchorage site. Some 598 vessels
suspected of belonging to the shadow fleet are under European Union sanctions.
Authorities said the 249-metre-long Grinch appears under that name on a UK
sanctions list of Russian shadow fleet vessels, but as Carl on lists compiled by
the EU and the United States. The operation is the second of its kind in recent
months. France in late September detained a Russian-linked ship called the
Boracay, a vessel claiming to be flagged in Benin, a move Russian President
Vladimir Putin condemned as “piracy.” The Boracay’s Chinese captain is to stand
trial in France in February.
Russia will never discuss anything with EU’s Kallas, the
Kremlin says
Reuters/25 January/2026
Russia will never discuss anything with EU Foreign Policy chief Kaja Kallas
and so Moscow will simply wait for her to leave her post, Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov said. “How can you discuss anything with Kaja Kallas? We will
never discuss anything with her, nor will the Americans discuss anything
with her, and that is obvious. What can we do? We just have to wait until she
leaves,” Peskov told Russian state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin in a comment
posted on Sunday.
No plans for China free trade
deal, Carney says as Trump fixates on Canada
CBC/January 25/2026
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada has "no intention" of pursuing a free
trade agreement with China, as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to impose
crippling tariffs if Canada "makes a deal with China."
"What we've done with China is to rectify some issues that have developed in the
last couple of years," Carney told reporters Sunday morning in Ottawa, referring
to trade items like Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs), agriculture and fish
products. Carney said Canada "respects our commitments" to the Canada-U.S.-Mexico
Agreement, which requires any of the three countries to notify the others ahead
of time if they want to pursue a free trade agreement with a non-market country
— like China. Trump continued to voice his displeasure on Sunday afternoon,
arguing on his Truth Social account that "China is successfully and completely
taking over the once great country of Canada. So sad to see it happen." That
post came one day Trump threatened to impose a 100 per cent tariff on all
Canadian goods entering the U.S. if Canada "makes a deal with China." But the
U.S. president did not specify what a "deal" is in his social media post. "If
Governor Carney thinks he is going to make Canada a 'Drop Off Port' for China to
send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken," the U.S.
president wrote in his post — referring to the prime minister as governor, a jab
he often reserved for Carney's predecessor Justin Trudeau. "China will eat
Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their
businesses, social fabric, and general way of life," Trump said. Last week,
Canada reached an agreement with China to allow 49,000 Chinese EVs into the
market at a lowered tariff rate of 6.1 per cent in exchange for China lowering
tariffs on Canadian canola and other products.Trump's latest threat is a
departure from his initial comments after Canada struck the agreement with
China. He appeared unfazed and said last week the agreement is a "good thing."
"That's what [Carney] should be doing. It's a good thing for him to sign a trade
deal. If you can get a deal with China, you should do that," Trump told
reporters at the White House at the time. On Sunday, U.S. Treasury Secretary
Scott Bessent provided some clarity on Trump's threat and said the tariffs are
possible if Canada makes a free trade deal with China.
"If they go further — if we see that the Canadians are allowing the Chinese to
dump goods [into the United States]," Bessent said on ABC's This Week. Tensions
between Trump and Canada have escalated in the aftermath of Carney's speech at
the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland — where he said "American
hegemony" and "great powers" are using economic integration as "weapons." Trump
criticized Carney's comments in his own speech and said "Canada lives because of
the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your
statements."How will Canada put Carney's words into action? One of the top
questions after Carney's speech in Davos, which also called on middle powers to
team up to protect themselves from global hegemons, is what tangible steps
Canada will take to achieve this newly outlined foreign policy vision. Foreign
Affairs Minister Anita Anand said in an interview on Rosemary Barton Live that
the job falls to her and other ministers. "As a middle power, what we seek to do
is ensure that our interests are being met, and we do that with a group of
countries on several issues already. Look at the 'coalition of the willing' on
Ukraine," Anand told host Rosemary Barton. "Indeed, at Davos, I met with a group
of countries that wanted to address Ukraine's energy needs in the face of
illegal and unjustifiable Russian strikes at their electricity grid," Anand
added. "These are the types of pragmatic steps that we will continue to take as
middle powers and ensure we're meeting the moment."Carney's speech has cost
Canada a spot in one prospective alliance, at least for now: Trump's "Board of
Peace" initiative for Gaza. The U.S. president disinvited the prime minister in
the days after his remarks in Davos. Anand said she did not expect Canada to be
disinvited, but "our policy in terms of the Middle East, in terms of assisting
Gaza, will continue." The foreign affairs minister also did not express concern
about Canada's relationship with the United States after Trump's latest threat.
Anand told Barton she will be travelling to the U.S. next week to discuss
critical minerals with other countries. "We need to protect and empower the
Canadian economy, and trade diversification is fundamental to that. That is why
we went to China, that's why we will be going to India. And that is why we won't
put all our eggs in one basket," Anand said.
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published
on January
25-26/2026
Opinion - Israel’s election may come soon and could change the country
forever
Eric R. Mandel, opinion
contributor/The Hill/January 25/2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a master political tactician, is
likely to call early elections this spring or early summer — not by accident,
but by design. His goal will be simple: maximize his chances of forming a new
coalition and staying in power.
Israel’s domestic politics is reaching a boiling point. Ultra-Orthodox parties
are threatening to block passage of the national budget, a move that would
automatically bring down the government, possibly within weeks. That timing
would give Netanyahu a politically priceless opening: elections during Israel’s
most emotionally charged period, immediately following Holocaust Remembrance
Day, Memorial Day for fallen soldiers, and the joyous celebration of
Independence Day.
Add to that a carefully orchestrated campaign-season visit by President Trump,
and Netanyahu’s political machine would be firing on all cylinders. But this
election won’t just be about timing or tactics. It will be about Israel’s future
and what kind of country Israelis want to live in. At the center of the storm is
one explosive domestic issue: the ultra-Orthodox exemption from military
service. While secular Israelis and non-Haredi religious Jews serve and die in
uniform, most ultra-Orthodox men remain exempt, studying in yeshivas as Israel
faces its longest war in history and an urgent need for an additional 10,000 to
20,000 combat troops. Hundreds of thousands of reservists from across the
political and religious spectrum have spent months away from their families and
jobs. The resentment is no longer simmering — it’s boiling over.As a recent
Jerusalem Post editorial put it: “Reserve soldiers and their families have
carried a burden that is physical, financial, and spiritual. … They have done so
not because it is easy, and not because anyone has explained a coherent national
destination — but because this is what a society does when it still believes it
is one society.”Netanyahu’s Likud party has become dependent on these Orthodox
factions to form governing coalitions. The price they demand is steep: permanent
draft exemptions and massive taxpayer subsidies for school systems that refuse
to teach core secular subjects, leaving many men unemployable and dependent on
state welfare. To maintain the support of the ultra-Orthodox, Netanyahu has
sought to reframe the debate by insisting that any legislation address all
Israeli draft dodgers, a move that deliberately makes such a law harder to pass.
Those who do not serve in the Israel Defense Forces or perform national service
include over 90 percent of the ultra-Orthodox, more than 95 percent of Israeli
Arabs, and roughly 13 percent of secular Jewish Israelis. In population terms,
the Haredi community constitutes about 13 percent of Israel’s population, while
Israeli Arabs make up about 21 percent. Israel’s “secret sauce” has always been
national unity and social cohesion. Both are now under severe strain. The
outcome of the next election will likely be decided by reservists, their
families, their extended circles, and the 85 percent of Israelis who are not
ultra-Orthodox. If Netanyahu cannot form a government without the Haredi
parties, or refuses to consider a national unity government in which he is not
prime minister, Israel’s social fabric may fray beyond repair.
قائمة مفصلة وموثقة بأحداث اضطهاد المسيحيين خلال شهر الثاني لسنة 2025/سوف ندمر
أميركا
America. We Are Going to Destroy It': The Persecution of Christians, November
2025
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone
Institute/January 25, 2026
"I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action.
If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs
attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE
FAST!" — US President Donald J. Trump, Truth Social, November 1, 2025
Muslims slaughtered five Christians because they were selling pork too close to
a mosque in Yumbe.... "Yumbe was dedicated to Allah from the beginning. We
cannot allow pork shops to operate here. Every Muslim youth must rise and defend
the honor of our faith. Let no Christian business that promotes sin remain
standing in our land." — morningstarnews.org, November 12, 2025, Uganda
"Once minority girls are declared Muslim, they are often warned that leaving
Islam would make them apostates – a label that can lead to targeted violence.
These threats trap girls in marriages they did not freely choose and leave them
vulnerable to lifelong abuse in what can also be described as sexual slavery
masked as marriage." — Katherine Sapna, who works with Christian survivors of
forced conversion and forced marriage, morningstarnews.org, November 26, 2025,
Pakistan
Father Rico, a priest with the Order of St. Elias in Argentina, and a Christian
layman named Diego, have been traveling through Pakistan "with the sole purpose
of freeing Christian slaves." In 2025 they managed to free 110 Christians, and
200 in 2024, thanks to the donations they collected to help free the slaves. —
persecution.org, November 21, 2025, Pakistan
"The Christian is considered 'chura,' which ... is equivalent to saying
'excrement.' .... After a life of eating garbage, being treated like garbage,
and suffering constant violence, some of them don't know what it's like to be
human. That's why we have to get them to where they can live in peace, practice
Christianity, and raise their children." — Father Rico, persecution.org,
November 21, 2025, Pakistan
"Since the change of power, with a jihadist government at the head of the
country, the situation is untenable, not only for Christians, but also for
moderate Muslims and for any minority that feels genuinely threatened.
[According to Brother Fahdi Azar, a Franciscan friar currently stationed in
Aleppo:] 'The international community must intervene to change the current
situation of instability and fear, because the attacks are incessant.' ...many
young people lose their jobs because they are Christian, women are forced to
wear the niqab, and threatening posters against those who do not convert to
Islam adorn the streets near churches." — christanophobie.fr, November 21, 2025,
Syria
"Historians say there are around 100,000 Christians in Turkey today, compared to
nearly four million at the start of the 20th century, with the numbers falling
significantly due to forced exile or massacres....For decades after Turkey
became a republic, Christians and Jews were regularly described by certain
government officials and media outlets as 'the enemies inside' and were targeted
by discrimination and violence—even into the early 2000s." — Report from
aina.org, November 24, 2025, Turkey
Salah "had consumed extremist propaganda online," including searching "for
videos of 'infidels dying,'" and watching "videos depicting ISIS terrorists
murdering people." In a cellphone video taken days before the crimes of
conviction, Salah declared, "America. We are going to destroy it." — US
Department of Justice, November 7, 2025, United States of America
According to a Nov. 3 report, a Christian man has been in prison for nearly a
year-and-a-half on a false blasphemy charge, and his impoverished family has
been unable to afford legal representation.... " His Muslim colleagues were also
opposed to him when he turned down their attempts to convert him to Islam." —
Report from britishasianchristians.org, November 3, 2025, Pakistan
According to a November 24 report, "Despite some progress in restoring their
rights, Christians in Turkey are still struggling against inequality..." Citing
the famous boast by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (pictured) that "In Turkey,
99 percent of the population is Muslim," Yuhanna Aktas, president of the
Assyrian Union, which represents Christians in southeastern Turkey, said: "Every
time he says that I feel excluded because he always fails to mention the
non-Muslim minorities. We are not seen as full citizens."
The following are among the abuses and murders inflicted on Christians by
Muslims throughout the month of November 2025.
The Muslim Slaughter of Christians
Nigeria: U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Nigeria will be designated a
Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom
Act. He cited the relentless persecution and mass killing of Christians by
Muslim extremists, adding that "radical Islamists are responsible for this mass
slaughter," as thousands of Christians continue to be murdered, kidnapped, and
displaced while Nigerian authorities largely fail to hold perpetrators
accountable. Proponents say that "a Country of Particular Concern designation
could significantly improve the lives of many Christians in Nigeria by raising
awareness of the ongoing persecution and exerting pressure on the Nigerian
government to take action." Trump had designated Nigeria as a CPC in 2020.
President Joe Biden removed the designation for unknown reasons in 2021.
Hours after Trump's announcement, Islamic Fulani, continuing as usual, carried
out coordinated nighttime attacks, slaughtering at least another 17 Christians
on the Plateau-Kaduna border. Many of those killed were women and children who
had gathered for a night vigil ahead of Sunday service. Trump responded by
threatening to halt all aid to and possibly launch direct military action
against Nigeria:
"If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the
U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very
well go into that now disgraced country, "guns-a-blazing," to completely wipe
out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities. I am
hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we
attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs
attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE
FAST!"
Between Nov. 1 and 2, Fulani terrorists slaughtered seven more Christians, some
in their beds.
On Nov. 6, the Muslim herdsmen launched more attacks in the middle of the night,
killing another 15 Christians as they slept in their beds. "Our peaceful home,
where we enjoyed all the comforts, has been turned into a den of armed bandits,"
said one local.
On Nov. 12, Muslim terrorists abducted seven Christians, including women and
children.
On Nov 18, Muslim terrorists attacked a Christ Apostolic Church in Kwara state,
killing three worshippers and abducting several others, including the pastor.
On Friday, Nov. 21, Islamic gunmen stormed a Catholic school in Niger State and
kidnapped at least 227 Christian children and their teachers. The report adds,
"Other attacks this week include the kidnapping on Monday of 25 schoolgirls from
a boarding school in Kebbi state and an attack on a church in Kwara state, in
which a church official told Reuters that 38 worshippers were taken by gunmen."
On Nov. 26, it was reported that "Amid a rash of mass kidnappings in Nigeria, an
Anglican priest in Nigeria abducted along with his wife and daughter has died in
captivity." The Rev. Edwin Achi was kidnapped on Oct. 28 along with his wife,
Sarah, and daughter. Although how he was killed is unclear, the assailants had
demanded a ransom of 600 million naira ($415,216)—an exorbitant sum for most
people, let alone impoverished Nigerians.
Finally, Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo, a pastor in Plateau State, faces death threats
for speaking out against Islamic attacks on Christians and calling for
protection against what he (and many others) call a genocide. In mid-October,
Ezekiel recorded a video standing over a mass grave of Christians slaughtered by
Muslim herdsmen. He criticized the Nigerian government for denying the violence
and appealed to the U.S. and the U.N. for help:
"My life is in grave danger. Even as I speak, I am on the lookout for attacks. I
no longer sleep with my eyes closed. I have been attacked before but escaped...
The Nigerian government keeps denying that there's no genocide [sic] against
Christians in Nigeria, but look at the corpses that were killed today. I'm
calling on President Trump of America to please save our lives in Nigeria. Just
as he intervened in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, I'm calling on his
attention to Nigeria. Christians are being massacred. They claim Muslims, too,
are being killed, but the question is, they're being killed by whom? By Muslims,
of course!"
According to a separate report, other Christian leaders in northeast Nigeria
have documented,
"systematic persecution in Gwoza, Borno state, where hundreds of churches have
been destroyed, Christian land and political representation denied, and 107,000
Christians displaced to camps or refugee settlements. They assert these are not
isolated incidents but part of a deliberate pattern of erasing Christians and
their heritage."
Uganda: On Nov. 4, Muslims slaughtered five Christians because they were selling
pork too close to a mosque in Yumbe. The Muslims had initially mobilized to
protest peacefully, but before long, a cleric incited them and they turned
violent and began attacking Christian properties and homes, including several
churches, all of which were vandalized and/or burned. Sheikh Kasim Abdalla, of
Munir Mosque, was heard crying,
"Yumbe was dedicated to Allah from the beginning. We cannot allow pork shops to
operate here. Every Muslim youth must rise and defend the honor of our faith.
Let no Christian business that promotes sin remain standing in our land."
At least five Christians were killed in the aftermath, some by stoning; many
others were severely injured by Somali sword stabs. "We are in great fear
because Muslims are many in the region," a Christian identified only as Bernard
said.
General Muslim Abuse of Christians
Pakistan: On Nov. 17, a 21-year-old Christian woman, Monica Jennifer,
disappeared from her home, only to appear later in court claiming she had
willingly converted to Islam and married her Muslim neighbor. In an interview,
her brother, Raza, said Jennifer
"was a spirit-filled Christian girl, devoted to her faith. There is no way she
would willingly choose to leave her home, her religion and her family without
pressure.... [Muslim neighbor Waleed Ahmad] abducted her and manipulated and
blackmailed her until she felt she had no choice but to leave."
When Jennifer failed to return from work, her family immediately reported her
disappearance:
"But instead of registering our complaint, [police] told us to come the next
morning, Our First Information Report [FIR] was registered on Nov. 23 only after
some rights activists intervened, giving the accused sufficient time to marry
Monica after forcibly changing her faith."
Raza adds that Jennifer's court statement was made under duress, that she
remains under threat, and that Ahmad's relatives have threatened the family to
drop the case or face a blasphemy complaint, a charge widely feared for its
deadly consequences. Raza also said the marriage was fraudulent, claiming the
Islamic certificate lacked required identity details and contains forged
signatures. Discussing this case, Katherine Sapna, who works with Christian
survivors of forced conversion and forced marriage, said:
"Once minority girls are declared Muslim, they are often warned that leaving
Islam would make them apostates – a label that can lead to targeted violence.
These threats trap girls in marriages they did not freely choose and leave them
vulnerable to lifelong abuse in what can also be described as sexual slavery
masked as marriage."
Separately, according to a Nov. 21 report, Father Rico, a priest with the Order
of St. Elias in Argentina, and a Christian layman named Diego, have been
traveling through Pakistan "with the sole purpose of freeing Christian slaves."
In 2025 they managed to free 110 Christians, and 200 in 2024, thanks to the
donations they collected to help free the slaves. According to Fr Rico,
"Christians suffer from slavery and constant oppression, and their situation is
terrible. The Christian is considered 'chura,' which ... is equivalent to saying
'excrement.' ... After a life of eating garbage, being treated like garbage, and
suffering constant violence, some of them don't know what it's like to be human.
That's why we have to get them to where they can live in peace, practice
Christianity, and raise their children."
Syria: The diocese of Valencia published a statement around the testimony of
Brother Fadi Azar, a Franciscan friar currently stationed in Aleppo. It
underscores the sufferings of religious minorities under the new jihadist
regime:
"The priest says the situation in Syria is getting worse every day: 'People
don't want food, clothes, or material aid; they simply want to leave the country
and escape the fear that grips them, because they fear for their lives and the
lives of their children.' Since the change of power, with a jihadist government
at the head of the country, the situation is untenable, not only for Christians,
but also for moderate Muslims and for any minority that feels genuinely
threatened. 'The international community must intervene to change the current
situation of instability and fear, because the attacks are incessant.' These
attacks also result in discrimination: many young people lose their jobs because
they are Christian, women are forced to wear the niqab, and threatening posters
against those who do not convert to Islam adorn the streets near churches."
Turkey: According to a Nov. 24 report, "Despite some progress in restoring their
rights, Christians in Turkey are still struggling against inequality..." Citing
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's famous boast that "In Turkey, 99 percent of the
population is Muslim," Yuhanna Aktas, president of the Assyrian Union, which
represents Christians in southeastern Turkey, said,
"Every time he says that I feel excluded because he always fails to mention the
non-Muslim minorities. We are not seen as full citizens."
The report adds that
"Historians say there are around 100,000 Christians in Turkey today, compared to
nearly four million at the start of the 20th century, with the numbers falling
significantly due to forced exile or massacres as the Ottoman Empire crumbled
and modern Turkey emerged.... Christian minorities have also struggled to
achieve representation, with many civil service positions closed to them despite
no legal ban on non-Muslim minorities holding office.... For decades after
Turkey became a republic, Christians and Jews were regularly described by
certain government officials and media outlets as 'the enemies inside' and were
targeted by discrimination and violence—even into the early 2000s."
Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches
Bangladesh: On Nov. 7, a Catholic cathedral and adjoining school in Dhaka, were
bombed—just hours before a worship event that drew bishops from across the
country. According to the report,
"A suspect on a motorbike threw two homemade bombs at the church — one exploded
near the gate, and another landed near the property, failing to detonate. No one
was injured in the attack."
Christian minorities of the Muslim majority nation expressed fears from this and
similar incidents: "Anxiety grips many of us while going to church," one
churchgoer said. Before this bombing, the Holy Rosary Church in Tejgaon, located
in the capital, was attacked with a similar homemade bomb on Oct. 8. "We
Christians are very few in number; we are peace-loving people," said another
local. "But these incidents are frightening us."
United States: On Nov. 7, the U.S. Dept. of Justice announced that Zimnako Salah,
a 46-year-old Muslim man, had been sentenced to six years in prison. Earlier, he
had visited several churches in Arizona, California, and Colorado "wearing black
backpacks":
"At two of those churches, Salah planted those backpacks, placing congregants in
fear that they contained bombs. At the other two churches, Salah was confronted
by security before he got the chance to plant those backpacks... The jury's
verdict included a special finding that Salah targeted the church because of the
religion of the people who worshipped there, making the offense a hate crime."
Salah had also tried to construct a real bomb that would fit in a backpack. When
the FBI searched a storage unit of his, the bureau took material that "served as
component parts of an improvised explosive device." The Justice Department adds
that Salah "had consumed extremist propaganda online," including searching "for
videos of 'infidels dying,'" and watching "videos depicting ISIS terrorists
murdering people." In a cellphone video taken days before the crimes of
conviction, Salah declared, "America. We are going to destroy it." According to
the U.S. Attorney,
"Salah's seeming ultimate goal to bomb a Christian church would have resulted in
many deaths and injuries if his plan had not been thwarted."
France: On Nov. 5, Muslim teenagers terrorized the cathedral on Pey-Berland
Square in the centre of Bordeaux. According to the report,
"a group of teenagers filmed themselves in the nave of Saint-André Cathedral,
located on Place Pey-Berland in Bordeaux. In the videos, the five teenagers,
aged 16 and 17, repeatedly shout 'Allah Akbar'. The scene frightened the
worshippers who had come to pray, prompting them to alert the local police. Upon
arrival, officers apprehended three of the five teenagers; the other two had
already fled. Placed in police custody, the three teenagers are accused of
condoning terrorism. However, the police are trying to reassure the public.
'This is completely stupid behavior. The terrorist angle has been ruled out,'
asserts the Gironde DIPN (Departmental Directorate of the National Police)."
Italy: A popular Catholic church, and a chapel, both in Rome, were desecrated
with human feces and urine—a well-documented Islamist tactic against churches.
First, on Nov. 25, human excrement was found smeared throughout the St. Nicholas
Church in Bari, including its altar. A few days later, more human waste and
urine were also found in various areas of a Catholic chapel, including its
altar. The report adds that
"Numerous acts of desecration inside churches have taken place throughout Europe
and indeed across the globe within the last year alone. In October, a man
urinated on the high altar of St. Peter's Basilica during Mass. In February,
another man jumped onto St. Peter's high altar and kicked off the historic
candelabra along with the altar cloths."
Sudan: On Nov. 26, Christians discovered Islamic graffiti on their church wall.
CCTV camera captured a man coming out of a vehicle with paint and writing in
Arabic on the wall of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church-Port Sudan,
"There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah." According to
Philip Abdelmasih of the church in question, "This is a deliberate act of the
Islamists and might be the beginning of Boko Haram-like acts in Sudan." Another
pastor, whose identity is held for security, said
"The Coptic Orthodox church was also targeted as well, we have informed the
authorities about the incident, and we expect them to arrest the culprit who was
captured by the CCTV camera."
Indonesia: On Nov. 30, around 1 a.m., a large group of Muslims surrounded and
hurled stones at a church. Some of the Muslims also attacked and wounded several
Christians with swords, while others shattered windows and set off firecrackers.
Accustomed to such behavior, a Christian militia formed, at which point police
acted quickly to prevent the conflict from escalating.
Muslim Attacks on Christian Apostates and Blasphemers
Uganda: Sudanese Christian refugee Safaa Abdalla Yousif and her family, who fled
Sudan in 2016 due to religious persecution, are now living in fear in Uganda as
other Muslims try to kill them. On Nov. 19, she received an Arabic language text
from an unknown number:
"You are infidel because you left Islam, your blood will be shed."
In the weeks and months before this death threat, Safaa had been sharing her
faith with Muslims, provoking some to anger. One Muslim, during an interfaith
debate, declared that he wished he had burned her vehicle on a prior occasion in
Sudan "so that we get rid of you and can get some rest." Muslims from Somalia
have also threatened her. A Somali convert she worked with was kidnapped and
tortured by Muslim relatives:
"He was sent back to warn us to close the church and stop discipleship classes.
He said, 'If you don't stop the ministry and close the church, they will kill
you because you are now known to them very well.'"
Most recently, unknown persons attempted to open the window of the room where
her 13-year-old daughter was sleeping:
"Since that day, I have not been sleeping well during nights. The girl is
scared, and this made me upset. The move was a sign that we are being seriously
monitored by the radical Muslims who wish to kidnap or kill us."
So the family—the husband and father of which was also stabbed in 2019 by Somali
Muslims—is on the run again.
Separately, according to a Nov. 30 report, 27-year-old Sudanese refugee Essam
Juma Abdelkreem was expelled from his uncle's home after converting from Islam
to Christianity. Fleeing war-torn Khartoum, Abdelkreem had secretly embraced
Christianity in early 2025, completed discipleship training, and was baptized,
until his uncle's wife searched through his bag and discovered a Bible:
"She immediately reported to my uncle. Upon hearing the report, my uncle was
emotionally upset and ordered me to leave his shop and his house immediately."
Pakistan: According to a Nov. 3 report, a Christian man has been in prison for
nearly a year-and-a-half on a false blasphemy charge, and his impoverished
family has been unable to afford legal representation. On Jun. 26, 2024,
22-year-old Christian waiter, Basharat Masih, was arrested under Pakistan's
blasphemy laws. He was traveling to begin his new job, when authorities raided
his bus, confiscated his phone, and accused him of sharing blasphemous content
online—charges he denies. Discussing his case, the British Asian Christian
Association said,
"Basharat's story is yet another example of how Pakistan's blasphemy laws
destroy innocent lives. We cannot allow fear or poverty to silence justice."
In a separate incident, according to a Nov. 6 report, police arrested Rasheed
Masih, 48, a mentally handicapped Christian man, for allegedly trying to incite
religious tensions by recording a video against Islamic and governmental
corruption. He was charged under blasphemy, sedition, and anti-terrorism laws.
According to his son, Nabeel, Rasheed had been suffering from severe depression
for the past two to three years after failing to obtain justice:
"He worked as a sanitary worker in a rural health center along with my mother
Najma Rasheed, but he was targeted with false accusations when he raised his
voice against corruption and theft of government resources by the Muslim staff
members.... His Muslim colleagues were also opposed to him when he turned down
their attempts to convert him to Islam."
Nabeel said authorities ignored his father's complaints, repeatedly transferred
him, and finally terminated him in January 2018. Rasheed's challenge in the
Lahore High Court failed, and prolonged unemployment plunged the family into
financial crisis. "Our parents could no longer afford education for their three
children," Nabeel said, adding that his father's hardship led to severe
depression and multiple hospitalizations:
"My father is a good man, but he has suffered a lot due to his Christian faith.
People who have nurtured grudges against him over the years for exposing their
wrongdoings have conspired to implicate him in the false case, taking advantage
of his mental health condition.... This is the price we are continuing to pay as
a family for my father's stance against the corrupt system... He is a victim of
the system and deserves sympathy."
Iran: Convert to Christianity, Aida Najaflou, imprisoned since February 2025 for
her faith-based activities—including praying, performing baptisms, taking
communion, and celebrating Christmas—suffered a spinal injury on Oct. 31 when
she fell from her top bunk. Aida, who previously had spinal disc surgery and
suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, was diagnosed with a fractured T12 vertebra.
Despite medical recommendations for urgent treatment, authorities returned her
to prison, prolonging her pain and worsening her condition. When even fellow
prisoners protested, officials finally took her to a second hospital, where
surgery was advised. Aida also faces charges of "propaganda activity against the
Islamic Republic" for online criticism of Iranian and Hezbollah leaders. Her
requests for a lower bunk were previously denied and continuous denial of proper
medical care has severely endangered her health. Her current condition remains
unknown.
***Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West, Sword and Scimitar,
Crucified Again, and The Al Qaeda Reader, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman
Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the
Middle East Forum.
About this Series
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22229/persecution-of-christians-november
While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians by
extremists is growing. The report posits that such persecution is not random but
rather systematic, and takes place irrespective of language, ethnicity, or
location. It includes incidents that take place during, or are reported on, any
given month.
**Follow Raymond Ibrahim on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook
© 2026 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Donald Trump confronts the world with a harsh mirror
Raghida Dergham/Al Arabiya English/25 January/2026
Donald Trump’s presence in Davos was never an isolated event; it was a mirror
reflecting the state of the world under his era. Davos did not create Trump, and
Trump does not need Davos to assert his presence. What unfolded revealed a clear
truth: Trump was no longer a mere controversial president but a
political-strategic phenomenon reshaping the international order and unsettling
post-Cold War certainties. The Trump phenomenon cannot be reduced to populism,
confrontational language, or protocol-breaking. Its essence lies in the “Trump
Doctrine”: stripping the global order of its sanctity, treating relations as a
market of interests rather than a system of values, and as a battlefield of
power rather than ethical consensus. Provocation is a tool, ambiguity a method,
and contradictions in rhetoric are part of strategy, not failure. In Davos,
Trump did not articulate a philosophical vision for the world order, but his
positions and signals reflected a reality he shaped: A world losing confidence
in old rules and not yet settled on new ones. Reopening the Greenland file was
less about the island than signaling that previously untouchable red lines were
negotiable. European outrage did not signal total collapse of transatlantic
trust, but its destabilization. The relationship between Trump and Europe is
tested continually: He pushes allies to the edge without plunging them into the
abyss.Trump himself appeared hesitant, sensing the limits of practical power
against European resistance to military escalation or sovereignty claims over
Greenland. This is an early indicator of his tactical unease. Yet, the strategic
goal remained: keeping China and Russia away from a region vital to US and NATO
security – a calculated part of redistributing global power burdens. The
so-called “Peace Council” follows the same pattern. Its importance lies not in
the name or structure, but in the political message: Trump openly questions
traditional institutions and proposes selective alliances led by Washington as
maestro rather than moral guardian. Some states accepted, others rejected –
revealing a world divided between those seeking access to US decision-making and
those fearing erosion of international legitimacy.
At that pivotal moment, Trump confronted resistance that exposed his unease.
Divergent positions challenged his expectation of unilateral acquiescence,
revealing that even a man convinced of being “a gift to the world” encounters
limits.
In Ukraine, the Trump doctrine relies on a principle: no open-ended wars, no
blank checks, and no perpetual US role in others’ conflicts. This is not a
pro-Russia stance, as critics allege, but reflects strategic repositioning to
reduce US exhaustion while refocusing on China. The question arises: does Trump
have a grand strategy, or is he navigating balances by instinct and intuition?
In the Middle East, attention focuses on Iran and Syria. In Iran, rising US
military maneuvers coincide with Tehran’s refusal to retreat. Trump balances
threats with diplomacy, prepared to authorize limited strikes, while Iran’s
intransigence creates constant friction and risks wider escalation. In Syria,
Trump’s pragmatism is evident: supporting President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Turkey,
while withdrawing from the Syrian Democratic Forces in the anti-ISIS coalition.
The philosophy is clear: ally with those controlling the ground, not merely the
narrative. Each move minimizes direct US engagement while safeguarding vital
regional interests. In Lebanon, particularly regarding Hezbollah, Trump
delegates the operational burden to Israel. Support is conditional: the state
enforces monopoly of force and prevents Hezbollah from retaining capabilities.
Syria and Lebanon serve as arenas to weaken Iranian influence and restore a
balance serving US and European interests.
A calmer reading reveals a harsh pragmatism behind Trump’s apparent chaos:
compelling Europe to bear security costs, reducing US exposure in draining
theaters, and opening unconventional negotiation channels with adversaries. The
question is not ethics but sustainability.
The core issue remains whether Trump – or “Trumpism” – can impose its rhythm on
a restless, divided, multi-polar world. Post-Davos does not mean post-Trump; it
signals a world after the first shock. The world no longer fully trusts Trump
yet also doubts the inherited system. Between loss of confidence and oscillation
emerges a gray zone: either a realistic re-engineering of the global order or
further fragmentation and conflict. China and Russia observe with strategic
calm, concealing deep concern. China abhors instability as it unsettles its
calculations. Trump, while unsettling allies, simultaneously creates vacuums
that tempt others to believe they can fill them. His unpredictability keeps
adversaries alert. The paradox: he destabilizes, yet prevents alternative order
formation in his absence. Post-Davos is not about an economic forum; it is about
a world led by a man who rejects tradition but bets that power, if skillfully
managed, can impose new realities. Success yields a harsher, less hypocritical
international system; failure risks deeper convulsions, where rules are ignored
and leadership unreliable.One certainty remains: Donald Trump did not pass the
international system as a bystander. He held the world to a harsh mirror,
exposing its fragility and his own unease. But the question lingers as to
whether the problem is Donald Trump or a world needing a shock to acknowledge
its altered reality.
Frankly Speaking: What’s next for Yemen?
Arab News/January 25, 2026
RIYADH: As Riyadh prepares to host a conference on southern Yemen as part of its
push for a comprehensive political solution, Yemen’s deputy foreign minister,
Mustafa Noman, said he is confident the southern cause will be resolved justly.
That confidence, he said, stems from Saudi Arabia’s efforts to steer the issue
away from political tensions and armed conflict and toward dialogue aimed at
resolving longstanding disputes. “This is what the Saudi government is doing
now,” Noman said during an appearance on the Arab News flagship talkshow
“Frankly Speaking.” “They are calling all the major personalities — but as
independents; there will be no entities.”He said the southern question cannot be
settled through force, stressing that conference participants will attend in
their personal capacities and must ultimately engage with broader Yemeni
stakeholders. “Everybody is going as an independent personality in this
conference,” he said. “And they will discuss between themselves, and whatever
they achieve, whatever they agree upon, they will have (to) come and sit with
the other Yemeni partners in this place. They cannot do it alone. They cannot
force it.”More broadly, Noman noted there was neither optimism nor pessimism,
saying politics is driven by realities on the ground. “The internationally
recognized government is working to unite all the forces in the south, and then
to coordinate their moves with the national army, which is in Marib, which is
Al-Mahra, which is in Taiz,” he added. “And then and only then, we can start
talking about the peace process.” Yemeni politicians and others meet in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia, to discuss the situation in Yemen following the dissolution of the
UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council on Jan. 18, 2026. (Screenshot via X,
used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Noman, however, cautioned that negotiations cannot move forward while the
Houthis maintain military dominance and control a large part of the population.
“We cannot talk about the peace process while the Houthis are still in their
strong positions; they are holding the majority of the population hostage to
their policies.”For talks to begin in earnest, he said, the government must be
stable and unified and able to command a national army under the president’s
authority. Returning to the southern issue, Noman said there is no consensus yet
on how the conflict should be resolved. Any outcome, he said, must reflect
agreement among all factions. “There is no consensus in the south about how to
deal with this matter. We cannot talk about what is the system that will
follow,” he said. “We have to wait until the end of the South-South dialogue,
(and) see what the majority of these participants decide.”
The uncertainty follows a turbulent end to last year, when violence flared
across southern and eastern Yemen. In December, the Southern Transitional
Council (STC), led by Aidarous Al-Zubaidi, moved to seize state institutions and
military camps in Hadramaut and Al-Mahra, directly challenging the
internationally recognized government.
The operations, carried out by armed groups and backed by external actors,
resulted in casualties and sharply heightened tensions. Riyadh has witnessed,
since the beginning of January, an unprecedented wave of political activity
involving southern Yemeni leaders and factions. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
In response, Yemen’s leadership appealed to the Saudi-led coalition to contain
the situation, called for the withdrawal of Emirati forces, and launched
operations to reassert control over military headquarters in both governorates.
Al-Zubaidi, who is reportedly on the run, later failed to attend talks in Riyadh
and was dismissed from the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), which oversees
the internationally recognized government. He was referred to the attorney
general on charges including “high treason” and “corruption.” The STC, following
talks in Saudi Arabia, announced its dissolution, citing a desire to preserve
stability in southern Yemen and neighboring countries. Noman told Al Arabiya
English on Jan. 2 that the “biggest mistake” of the “outlawed” STC is that it
“antagonized Saudi Arabia.” Appearing on “Frankly Speaking,” he said
longstanding problems in the south were widely acknowledged but could never be
resolved through force. He said the outcomes of Yemen’s 2014 National Dialogue
had clearly outlined a political track for addressing southern grievances. “What
the STC have done is that they crossed all the red lines,” he said. “They were
trying to impose their own agenda on all Yemenis and on the region by sending
their forces to Hadramout and Al-Mahra.” He alleged that the moves were driven
in part by foreign agendas, including support from the UAE, and said the
militias operated outside the authority of Yemen’s defense and interior
ministries. “They have taken steps that were (not) coordinated with the Ministry
of Defense as they claimed — as they were claiming that they were going there to
fight the terrorists or the Al-Qaeda and (Daesh),” he said. “If you want to do
that, you have to do it under the banner of the Ministry of Defense and the
Ministry of Interior.” On the charge of high treason against Al-Zubaidi, Noman
said the former STC leader led an unconstitutional rebellion while serving as a
member of government. Al-Zubaidi “led a rebellion against the government, and
this is unconstitutional, and this is what is called high treason,” he said.
“You cannot be a member of the government and use your militias to topple it or
to enforce your own agenda without the consent of your partners in this
country.” He added that Al-Zubaidi bypassed constitutional and political
processes in favor of force. “He issued the decree to put a new constitution for
the south, and then he declared that he will declare an autonomous state in the
south.”
Noman reiterated that “all the steps (Al-Zubaidi) has taken were wrong, were
unconstitutional, were unlawful, and this is why he was accused (of) high
treason.”On Jan. 7, the PLC authorized the public prosecutor to form a special
committee to investigate allegations against Al-Zubaidi. Preliminary findings
reviewed by Arab News accuse him of abuse of power, corruption, land seizures
and illicit oil trading.
Noman said Al-Zubaidi received billions of Yemeni riyals monthly to fund
militias and imposed unauthorized levies on goods entering southern Yemen. “He
received 10 billion Yemeni riyals ($41.9 million) every month for his militias,
and we did not know how he spent that. He was — he had the right — not the legal
right — but he had the force to impose tariffs, to impose the levies and duties
on every merchandise that goes into the south,” he said. The committee also
cited alleged pressure on the Yemen Petroleum Company to channel fuel imports
through firms linked to Al-Zubaidi’s relatives and associates, along with land
seizures in Aden and surrounding areas. Asked why Al-Zubaidi was able to operate
without accountability for so long, Noman said the PLC had tolerated his demands
to preserve unity against the Iran-backed Houthis. “He has his own militia that
nobody knows what the number is,” Noman said. “He was able to impose 25 vice
ministers and deputy ministers in the different ministries, and the PLC approved
them just to accommodate him and just to try to make the country run forward.”
He added that the PLC was “only accommodating” Al-Zubaidi “because everybody
wanted the entity that was a government — an internationally recognized
government to work from Aden peacefully.”
Noman stressed that the government “had only one goal, which is to go after the
Houthis and take back the capital. And to do that, there should be a united bloc
in the south working with the Yemeni army to go after the Houthis.”Elaborating,
Noman said Al-Zubaidi had “two-thirds of the cabinet. He had everything under
his hands. And he just decided to be a rebel … and to get out of all the
obligations of a legitimate government.”When asked how southern political
aspirations, including possible statehood, could be achieved through dialogue,
Noman stressed this was not a family dispute that could be treated as a
“divorce,” and any decision must involve all Yemenis. “Now everything is going
to be put on the table in the Southern-Southern Dialogue,” he said. “And after
that, when the southerners reach an agreement about what they want in the
future, then they will have to sit with the other Yemeni partners and discuss
how to do it, how to achieve it. “I always say that succession is not a family
feud that you can just decide if you want to have a divorce and just quit. No.
You have to sit and organize this.”On Jan. 18, Saudi Arabia hosted a
consultative meeting on southern Yemen, bringing together political leaders,
elders and public figures to pave the way for the broader conference.
A closing statement said dialogue remains the only path to a “just, secure and
sustainable solution” and warned that further divisions would deepen
instability. The statement also highlighted Saudi Arabia’s role in supporting
southern security.
Noman said Saudi Arabia “has committed to pay the salaries of all the national
army and the brigades, like the Giants and those who are working with the West
Coast under General (Tariq) Saleh’s command, and the national army that's
working in Taiz and Al-Mahra.”He added: “The Saudi government also committed
that they will pay the salaries of the government staff, including the
diplomats. And this is the first step. First, we have to secure the capital in
Aden, and then when the capital is stable and the services are functioning to a
certain extent, the government starts operating from Aden.”
Once a unified political and military bloc is established, he said, the focus
must return to the peace process and confronting the Iran-backed Houthis, who
control much of northwestern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, and reject the
PLC’s legitimacy.
Noman warned that the STC rebellion and resulting security vacuum have benefited
the Houthis. “Nobody can deny that there is a vacuum now in areas of the south,”
he said. “The government of Yemen and the government of Saudi Arabia are working
very hard, and they are doing their best to fill in these vacuum spots, but that
will take some time.”He added that “the events that have occurred during the
past two months, if I were a Houthi, I would have been the happiest on earth to
see my enemies, according to his terms, having these disputes, having this
disruption. “But we also know that the Houthis in the area they are controlling
are facing more opposition from the people. People are coming more frankly and
going more publicly to protest against the Houthi actions.”
He added: “So, at this moment, I’m not sure that they are ready for a peace
process until they see what the government would do in the South — in Aden when
the government is formed, then going back to Aden.”
EU leaders begin India visit ahead of ‘mother of all deals’ trade pact
Sanjay Kumar/Arab News/January 25, 2026
Antonio Luis Santos da Costa, Ursula von der Leyen are chief guests at Republic
Day function
Access to EU market will help mitigate India’s loss of access to US following
Trump’s tariffs
New Delhi: Europe’s top leaders have arrived in New Delhi to participate in
Republic Day celebrations on Monday, ahead of a key EU-India Summit and the
conclusion of a long-sought free trade agreement. European Council President
Antonio Luis Santos da Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der
Leyen arrived in India over the weekend, invited as chief guests of the 77th
Republic Day parade. They will hold talks on Tuesday with Prime Minister
Narendra Modi at the EU-India Summit, where they are expected to announce a
comprehensive trade agreement after years of stalled negotiations.
Von der Leyen called it the “mother of all deals” at the World Economic Forum in
Davos last week — a reference made earlier by India’s Commerce Minister Piyush
Goyal — as it will create a market of 2 billion people. “The India-EU FTA has
been a long time coming as negotiations have been going on between the two for
more than a decade. Some of the red lines that prevented the signing of the FTA
continue to this date, but it seems that the trade negotiations have found a way
around it,” said Anupam Manur, professor of economics at the Takshashila
Institution. “The main contentious issue remains the Indian government’s desire
to protect the farmers and dairy producers from competition and the European
Union’s strict climate-based rules and taxation. Despite this, both see enormous
value in the trade deal.”India already has free trade agreements with more than
a dozen countries, including Australia, the UAE, and Japan. The pact with the EU
would be its third in less than a year, after it signed a multibillion CEPA
(comprehensive economic partnership agreement) with the UK in July and another
with Oman in December. A week after the Oman deal, New Delhi also concluded
negotiations on a free trade agreement with New Zealand, as it races to secure
strategic and trade ties with the rest of the world, after US President Donald
Trump slapped it with 50 percent tariffs.
The EU is also facing tariff uncertainty. Earlier this month Trump threatened to
impose new tariffs on several EU countries unless they supported his efforts to
take over Greenland, which is an autonomous region of Denmark. “The expediting
factor in the trade deal is the unilateral and economically irrational trade
decisions taken by their biggest trading partner, the United States,” Manur told
Arab News. Being subject to the highest tariff rates, India has been required to
sign FTAs with other major economies. Access to the EU market would help
mitigate the loss of access to the US. The EU is India’s largest trading partner
in goods, accounting for about $136 billion in the financial year 2024-25.
Before the tariffs, India enjoyed a $45 billion trade surplus with the US,
exporting nearly $80 billion. To the EU’s 27 member states, it exports about $75
billion. “This can be sizably increased after the FTA,” Manur said. “Purely in
value terms, this would be the biggest FTA for India, surpassing the successful
FTAs with the UK, Australia, Oman and the UAE.”
Trump plan might protect Palestinians from Israeli occupiers
Daoud Kuttab/Arab News/January 25, 2026
A curious phenomenon is unfolding: long-standing calls from Palestinians and
their supporters for international intervention are beginning to gain traction.
Despite numerous challenges, US President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace
plan could serve as a much-needed remedy for a fractured Middle East.
It is undeniable that the balance of power has historically favored Israel,
which has maintained military dominance, significant political backing from the
global community (until recently) and economic superiority in the region. For
years, American administrations have vied to demonstrate unwavering support for
Israel, paying lip service to the two-state solution but in fact disregarding
the principles of justice and fairness. The recent escalations of violence and
war crimes committed by both Hamas and Israel, coupled with strong alliances in
the Gulf, have influenced the Trump administration’s approach. Notably, the
president’s plan has received the UN Security Council’s stamp of approval,
indicating a departure from previous US policies that have been heavily swayed
by Israeli interests. While his methodology might be unorthodox and his motives
questionable, Trump appears to have found a way to produce limited results
through pressing Israel without totally alienating it. The latest example was
how Trump initiated the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan without Israeli
consultation — an unprecedented move that signifies a shift in the US-Israel
dynamic.
Part of the US plan includes a robust multinational military force in Gaza. This
is exactly what the Non-Aligned Movement suggested decades ago and late
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat supported in 2001, when he called on the G8
to send monitors. President Mahmoud Abbas repeated the idea in 2019, adding that
Palestinians were willing to accept “US-led NATO troops” to assist in
stabilizing the region. While the current US plan does not explicitly extend to
the West Bank, where violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians has
escalated, it lays the groundwork for potential expansions. Once established in
Gaza, there should be no barriers to extending this initiative to the entirety
of the Occupied Territories, paving the way for a peaceful Palestinian state
alongside Israel. The appointment of US Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers to lead the
International Stabilization Force, which is tasked with ensuring security and
training a new police force in Gaza, underscores a commitment to empowering
Palestinians. Despite Israeli objections to international involvement, the US
seems determined to proceed, emphasizing that this operation will not be
controlled by Israel, even as it retains influence over 54 percent of Gaza. The
role of Arab and Muslim nations is also crucial in navigating these
complexities. Their involvement can help facilitate dialogue and ensure that the
needs and aspirations of the Palestinian people are addressed.
However, significant hurdles remain. Will Israel comply with the new framework
or will tensions escalate? The traditional narratives used to persuade American
audiences may falter now that a general is on the ground, supported by a
dedicated peace council. Thus far, there seems to be consensus among Hamas,
Islamic Jihad, the Palestine Liberation Organization, Arab states and the people
of Gaza regarding the need for a third-party intervention to alleviate the
burdens imposed by the Israeli military.
Trump initiated the second phase of the plan without waiting for Israeli
consultation — an unprecedented move. Palestinians should have the freedom to
travel between Rafah, Bethlehem and Nablus without facing oppressive
restrictions. The West Bank-Gaza corridor, endorsed by Israel and the PLO with
US backing in 1993, merits revisiting, as it could serve as a vital link in
fostering Palestinian unity and movement. Travel to and prayer in Jerusalem
should be open to all Palestinians. While the bulk of the responsibility lies
with the US and Israel, Palestinians still need to reaffirm their commitment to
peace and coexistence, as well as prove their commitment to their own suggested
democratic-centered reform plans. Municipal elections are set for April 25, the
powerful Fatah movement will hold its long-delayed eighth congress on May 6 and
presidential and parliamentary elections are due in October. While this reform
includes Palestinian elections, Israel and the US can help this process by
ensuring the release of Palestinian prisoners, including prominent and peaceful
leaders like Marwan Barghouti. The Palestinian community needs strong leadership
capable of making the tough decisions that are essential for achieving peace in
Gaza and the West Bank. Such leadership must be rooted in popular support and a
clear vision for a peaceful future. Ultimately, these challenges must align with
the Palestinian right to self-determination, including the establishment of an
independent state on the June 4, 1967, borders, with mutually agreed land swaps
where necessary. The international community must also play a supportive role,
ensuring that both Israeli and Palestinian aspirations are taken into account.
Despite the unconventional methods employed by the US president, there is today
cautious optimism among many Palestinians that we are finally moving in the
right direction, toward peaceful coexistence between Palestine and Israel. The
path ahead is fraught with challenges, but with a renewed commitment to dialogue
and cooperation, there is potential for a more stable and just future in the
region.
**Daoud Kuttab is an award-winning Palestinian journalist and former Ferris
Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. He is the author of “State of
Palestine Now: Practical and Logical Arguments for the Best Way to Bring Peace
to the Middle East.” X: @daoudkuttab
US must restore the rule of law on immigration
Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/January 25, 2026
The US this month announced it will end Temporary Protected Status for Somali
immigrants in March. The decision has sparked strong emotions, particularly in
states like Minnesota, where a large Somali community has built deep roots. For
many families, the news brings uncertainty and fear. For politicians, it has
become another tool for outrage. Beyond the noise, this moment offers a rare
opportunity to move past slogans and talking points and instead approach the
immigration debate with honesty, responsibility and clear-eyed judgment.
Temporary Protected Status was never meant to be permanent. It was created by
Congress in 1990 as a humanitarian tool for people who could not safely return
home due to war, natural disasters or extraordinary crises. It was designed to
be temporary, reviewed regularly and ended when conditions no longer met the
legal standard. Today, the system is in rapid decline following a wave of
terminations and legal challenges. Although some 17 countries have been
designated for the program at various times, only a limited number retain full,
active protections. El Salvador and Ukraine still have active extensions, while
countries like Haiti, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Myanmar are seeing their
protections end or remain in place only due to court orders. Somalia was first
designated for the scheme in 1991, during a period of complete state collapse
and civil war. More than three decades later, what was meant to be a short-term
protection has become, in practice, permanent. That reality shows how far the
system has drifted from its original purpose. Ending it for Somalis is not about
punishing a community. It is about restoring honesty to a system that has long
avoided difficult decisions. Temporary programs cannot become permanent by
default. When they do, the law loses meaning and fairness disappears.
According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services data, about 2,500 Somali
nationals currently hold Temporary Protected Status in the US, which is a small
fraction of the much larger Somali immigrant population nationwide.
This does not mean Somalia is suddenly a safe or easy place to live. It is not.
The country still struggles with terrorism, political instability and economic
hardship. But this scheme is not a judgment on whether a country is perfect or
stable. It is a legal standard that asks whether conditions remain so
extraordinary and temporary that return is impossible. Mogadishu now has a
recognized government, active diplomatic ties, operating airports and millions
of people moving in and out of the country each year. While serious challenges
remain, these facts are part of the reality Washington must weigh up when
enforcing the law as it is written. For years, Temporary Protected Status for
Somali immigrants was extended with little public debate. Each renewal delayed a
necessary reckoning: what happens when “temporary” becomes permanent? The answer
cannot be endless extensions driven by politics rather than law. A system that
promises what it cannot deliver is not compassionate; it is harmful. It gives
people a false sense of security and leaves families unprepared when the truth
finally comes. A system that promises what it cannot deliver is not
compassionate; it is harmful. It gives people a false sense of security. Nowhere
is this more visible than in Minnesota. Political leaders and activists have
used immigration enforcement as a stage for emotional rhetoric. Some speak as if
the law itself is the enemy. Others suggest that any enforcement is an attack on
entire communities. This kind of language does real harm. It spreads fear, fuels
anger and deepens division. It does not protect immigrants. It leaves them
confused and vulnerable.
Immigrant communities deserve truth, not slogans. They deserve policies that are
clear, consistent and lawful. A transparent immigration system benefits
everyone. It gives immigrants a realistic understanding of their options and
protects the integrity of legal pathways. It restores public trust in a system
that has too often been shaped by political convenience rather than principle.
Ending Somalia’s Temporary Protected Status does not mean closing the door on
Somali immigrants. Many will still be able to stay through other legal paths,
such as family reunification, asylum or work visas. This decision simply makes
one thing clear: temporary protection cannot last forever. It draws an honest
line between emergency relief and permanent status and reminds us that long-term
residency must come through lawful, lasting channels. America has always been a
land of opportunity, built by people who believed in its promise and were
willing to work for a better future. Generation after generation has traveled to
the US not because the path was easy, but because it was fair and based on clear
rules that gave everyone a real chance to succeed. But opportunity cannot
survive without fairness and fairness cannot exist without honest, meaningful
laws.
When rules are unclear or constantly changed, people are misled, communities are
hurt and trust in the system is lost.
This moment should finally force a serious national conversation about
immigration reform, not as a campaign slogan or political weapon but as real and
lasting policy. For decades, leaders from both parties have promised reform
while using the issue to divide voters, leaving families trapped in uncertainty
and communities caught in the middle. The US needs a modern, humane immigration
system that reflects today’s realities, not laws written for a different time
and a different world. The country needs reforms that provide a clear, legal
path to citizenship for those who work, contribute, respect the law and believe
in the American promise, while also restoring order at the border and confidence
in fair, consistent enforcement. A system without compassion becomes cold and
unjust, but compassion without structure becomes chaos. True reform must balance
both. Only then can immigrants plan their futures with dignity, communities can
regain trust and the nation can move forward with fairness, stability and
integrity.
**Dalia Al-Aqidi is executive director at the American Center for Counter
Extremism.
Europe has quietly lost the habit of long-term thinking
Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Arab News/January 25, 2026
Across much of Europe, including the UK, politics has become an exercise in
managing decline rather than shaping the future. Governments lurch from crisis
to crisis, constrained by aging electorates, short electoral cycles and
institutions optimized for risk avoidance rather than renewal. Policy is
increasingly reactive, legalistic and procedural. The emphasis is on
redistribution, regulation and preserving existing arrangements, not on growth,
capability or strategic transformation. This is not simply a matter of political
style. It is structural. Demography has narrowed the political imagination. In
societies where median voters are older, risk is punished and ambition is
deferred. Investment horizons shrink to fit parliamentary terms. Public debate
becomes dominated by entitlement protection rather than opportunity creation.
Over time, this produces a governing culture that prizes stability over dynamism
and compliance over creativity.
The result is visible across Europe. Infrastructure projects take decades to
approve. Industrial strategy is often little more than subsidy management.
Defense planning struggles to move beyond incrementalism. Even when long-term
challenges are acknowledged, from energy security to technological competition,
responses tend to be fragmented and defensive. Europe debates how to preserve
systems built for the late 20th century while the world around it moves on.
Britain exemplifies this paradox. It remains a country with deep reservoirs of
talent, capital and institutional capability. London is still a global financial
hub. British universities and research institutions punch above their weight.
The country retains serious diplomatic and military assets. Yet these strengths
are rarely integrated into a coherent long-term national strategy. Policy
oscillates between nostalgia and pessimism, between short-term fixes and
rhetorical ambition, without a disciplined framework for renewal. In sharp
contrast, the Gulf states have been forced to think differently. The countries
of the Gulf Cooperation Council did not arrive at long-term planning by
ideological preference. They did so by necessity. With young populations, rising
expectations and finite hydrocarbon revenues, postponing the future was never an
option. Demography and opportunity combined to impose strategic clarity. Either
these states diversified, invested and planned decades ahead or they risked
stagnation and instability.
As a result, much of the Gulf has embraced future-oriented statecraft with
remarkable consistency. Long-term national visions have anchored policy across
economic diversification, human capital development, infrastructure, energy
security and technological capability. Investment in logistics, advanced
manufacturing, renewable energy, artificial intelligence and education has been
treated not as discretionary spending but as national strategy.
The UK lacks a shared strategic imagination about what it is trying to become
over the next 20 to 30 years. Crucially, these efforts have been underpinned by
political confidence in the future rather than fear of it. Young populations are
not viewed as a fiscal burden but as a strategic asset. Growth is not something
to be managed cautiously but something to be deliberately shaped. The state
plays an active role in setting the direction, crowding in private capital and
aligning institutions with long-term objectives.
This difference in outlook matters more than is often acknowledged. While parts
of Europe debate how to preserve existing welfare models and regulatory
frameworks, the Gulf is designing what comes next. While European policy
discourse focuses on risk mitigation, Gulf strategy emphasizes capability
building. While European institutions often treat the future as a liability to
be insured against, Gulf leaders treat it as an opportunity to be captured. None
of this implies that the Gulf model can or should be transplanted wholesale into
European contexts. Political systems, social contracts and historical
trajectories differ profoundly. But the underlying strategic lesson is
transferable. Long-term thinking is not a luxury of wealthy states. It is a
prerequisite for remaining wealthy and relevant. Britain’s challenge today is
not primarily economic or technological. It is conceptual. The country lacks a
shared strategic imagination about what it is trying to become over the next 20
to 30 years. Too much policy is still framed around mitigating decline rather
than pursuing renewal. Too little attention is paid to aligning demography,
institutions and national purpose. This is the core argument of my recent book,
“A Greater Britain: Rethinking UK Grand Strategy and Statecraft,” which argues
that Britain’s predicament is one of strategic drift, not inevitable decline.
The country still possesses formidable assets. But without disciplined long-term
statecraft, those assets are gradually being squandered through fragmentation
and short-termism. Britain does not need to invent ambition from scratch. It
needs to recover the habit of thinking strategically. The Gulf experience offers
a powerful counterexample to Europe’s prevailing mood. It demonstrates that
long-term planning anchored in realism, demographic confidence and institutional
alignment can reshape national trajectories within a generation. It shows that
states can move beyond managing inherited systems and instead design future
ones. And it underscores that strategic renewal is ultimately a choice, not a
demographic destiny.As global competition intensifies and the margin for error
narrows, the ability to think decades ahead is becoming the decisive factor in
national success. Europe, and Britain in particular, must decide whether they
are content to manage decline or are prepared to shape the future. The Gulf has
already made its choice.
*Dr. Azeem Ibrahim is the director of special initiatives at the Newlines
Institute for Strategy and Policy in Washington, DC. X: @AzeemIbrahim
Iraq: A Proactive Approach
to Preventing the Return of ISIS
Farhad Alaaldin-The Iraqi Prime Minister's Advisor for Foreign Affairs/Asharq Al
Awsat/25 January/2026
Iraq's initiative to accept a number of the most dangerous ISIS members detained
in northeastern Syria cannot be separated from the deeper transformations taking
place in the counter-terrorism file in the region. This step is not merely a
technical procedure or a temporary solution, but a calculated political and
security initiative that reflects Baghdad's desire to deal directly with one of
the most complex post-conflict issues, rather than leaving it stranded in
ungoverned gray areas.
For years, detention centers and camps in northeastern Syria have been a clear
point of imbalance in the regional security equation. They are unstable spaces
governed by temporary arrangements, housing extremists from various countries in
a fragile, potentially explosive environment. This reality, long treated as a
stopgap solution, is now seen internationally as a continuous source of danger
that cannot be contained indefinitely.
In this context, the Iraqi move stands out as a proactive attempt to prevent a
more dangerous security scenario, given the changes in the Syrian arena in terms
of the forces controlling the territory, and the serious concerns associated
with the possibility of these detainees escaping or becoming active in chaotic
environments. Iraq, which fought one of the costliest battles against ISIS, now
faces a different level of the threat, no longer solely internal, but
cross-border, and capable of reproducing the organization in more complex and
dangerous forms.
Therefore, the logic of the Iraqi initiative is not based on transferring a
security burden from one arena to another, but on preventing the formation of
vacuums that allow the organization to return under new names or structures. It
is an attempt to bring this file under state control, rather than leaving it
hostage to temporary arrangements that have proven limited.
It is important to note that these ISIS elements have long been held in
arrangements intended to be containable, until recent developments –
particularly the escalating tensions between Damascus and the Kurdish Autonomous
Administration in northeastern Syria – re-ignited Washington's concerns and
raised the question of security sustainability with greater urgency. The change
in the balance of power on the ground, along with the fragility of institutional
discipline within some Syrian government military formations, has raised
increasing concerns about the actual ability to manage this sensitive file, or
to ensure that it does not become a political bargaining chip, or a possible
outlet for the release of extremely dangerous members, in a highly volatile
security and political environment.
The American welcome of the move was consistent with this understanding. The US
State Department described the Iraqi decision as a "bold and necessary" step
within efforts to prevent the resurgence of the organization, in a clear
indication that addressing this file is no longer an internal Iraqi matter, but
part of a broader approach to regional security. What is remarkable about this
position is that it was not presented in the form of dictation or pressure, but
in a language of appreciation for a role initiated by Baghdad from its sovereign
position.
American officials, including Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, also expressed
deep appreciation from US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco
Rubio to the Iraqi government, and to Iraq's position and willingness to
contribute to protecting the international community from the continuing threat
posed by ISIS detainees. They pointed out that the Iraqi role has become a key
element in promoting stability, not only in Syria, but throughout the region.
Washington further stressed the need for other countries to assume their
responsibilities towards their detained citizens, in a message reflecting a
shift in the international mood in this file.
This international interaction does not change the nature of the Iraqi decision,
but it highlights its political aspect. The step combines a clear executive
dimension and a calculated sovereign dimension. Instead of dealing with the
detainees file as a burden that can be postponed, it has been incorporated into
the state’s concerns, with all the complexities that this entails, but also the
ability to control and contain. It is a clear transition from the logic of
managing risk from a distance to the logic of reducing it within specific
national frameworks.
At the same time, Iraq is keen to keep this path within a delicate balance:
international cooperation without guardianship, and contribution to regional
security without bearing the burdens of others. The repeated American emphasis
on countries repatriating their detained citizens falls within this framework,
and gives the Iraqi initiative an additional political dimension, beyond its
direct security aspect.
Most importantly, this step reflects an advanced understanding of the nature of
the confrontation with extremist organizations in its current stage. The issue
is no longer limited to military control, but to the ability of countries to
manage the legacy of violence within justice systems and institutions, and to
prevent it from turning into a future threat. This is what puts the Iraqi
initiative in its broader context: testing the state's ability, not showcasing
its power. Iraq is consolidating a path it began years ago, based on moving from
being affected by the repercussions of the conflict to being a party that
contributes to shaping its features afterwards. In a regional scene that still
suffers from the results of unresolved files, this approach seems less of an
exception, and more of an expression of a calm understanding of the complexities
of the next stage.
Real Estate Peace
Samir Atallah/Asharq Al Awsat/25 January/2026
When US President's son-in-law Jared Kushner spoke about a new "Riviera" project
in Gaza, people thought the man was joking. But last February, the president
himself spoke about the project. While Gaza was being crushed time after time,
Donald Trump held a press conference in which he explained the importance of the
tourism project, which would be under American administration. Again, the world
thought that such talk was just talk, even if it was said by the President of
US.However, a momentous development soon took place thousands of miles from
Gaza, when an American force kidnapped the president of Venezuela and his wife,
and Trump announced that its oil would of course come under direct American
administration. The biggest surprise then followed: a Board of Peace headed by
Donald Trump. But where are the United Nations, norms and international
procedures?
Many missed a new expression introduced into the language of the White House:
“The President and his team”, not “the President and his administration”. There
is now something in American politics called “the team.” This team is the one
making the unusual decisions. When Trump announced the Board of Peace, The
Guardian cried out in horror that this was a return to the era of colonialism.
While Tony Blair was excluded from the board that he was supposed to chair,
Kushner's name remained present. The real estate element should not be
overlooked. The project at hand is greater than can be imagined.
Trump is turning international politics into facts and figures. In Ukraine, he
demanded a deal on its rare mineral wealth. In Greenland, he wants to acquire
what is under the ice sheets. This is realism in life, no matter how it is
described. At the head of US and at the head of the world is a man who came from
the world of real estate, and he sees things through his long experience there.
Good luck in Gaza and a beautiful Riviera in Rafah.
Selected X tweets fror January 25/2026