Author: M Barbu

“Israel is left worse off than when Hamas managed Gaza, given the sheer power of Turkey (which is increasing)…. The deployment of Turkish forces in Gaza and the sale of F-35s to Erdogan are not policy ideas but a method: regional management through personal deals and assurances rather than hard reality. Trump himself illustrated this approach when he dismissed the issue as if it were a neighborhood misunderstanding: Israel ‘will be fine’ and Turkey ‘won’t use them against you’. This is not policy; it is a dangerous assumption. In the Middle East, it does not work. — Christine Douglass-Williams, Frontpage Magazine, January 7, 2026.

Despite the announcement of a ceasefire between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurdish militia said that fighting continues near Raqqa, and that clashes are leading to an “extremely dangerous development,” which leaves prisons and detention centers vulnerable.
While it is unclear how many individuals have escaped from al-Shaddadi prison, Damascus has vowed to find and arrest those individuals.
The fighting over the past few weeks saw Syrian military forces, augmented by tribal militias, capturing towns and villages long controlled by Kurdish forces.
In online pro-Islamic State chat forums, there is both outrage about SDF abuses against children and women during the recent clashes, while excitement about the future of the different camps in Northeast Syria is also growing, with many calling to support those who have been able to escape al-Shaddadi prison.

Muhammad Awasha, a key weapons dealer and smuggler, died near Sidon.

The Israel Defense Forces struck four border crossings on the Syria-Lebanon frontier used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons and killed a senior arms dealer for the Iranian terrorist proxy near the southern Lebanese city of Sidon on Wednesday, Israel’s military said.

Dr. Youssef Ibrahim Saloum, an expert on jihadist groups, told TML that many Iraqis may see the move as shifting a security burden from one arena to another without addressing its root causes

US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Wednesday the launch of an operation to transfer thousands of detainees affiliated with the Islamic State group (ISIS) from northeastern Syria to Iraq, aiming to strengthen detention security and prevent potential escape attempts.

The Israeli army struck Lebanese “Hezbollah” positions along the Syria-Lebanon border on Wednesday, 21 January.

Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said Israel carried out airstrikes on four crossing points in the Hermel area, between Syria and Lebanon, which he said “Hezbollah” uses to transfer weapons.

Residents tell The National they have gone days without food, as Damascus and SDF trade blame over security vacuum at ISIS-linked site

Thick black smoke billowed from Al Hol camp in north-east Syria, the country’s largest centre housing families with alleged links to ISIS, as unrest spread among residents who said they had gone days without food, water or medication.

The Salafi-jihadi threat persists across Africa, the Middle East, and into Asia. Al Qaeda– and Islamic State–affiliated groups are engaged in local conflicts and have sought ways to strengthen on the ground within popular insurgencies. Their focus on expanding in the Muslim world has not replaced aspirations to strike the West, however. Those groups that once demonstrated or sought to develop transnational attack capabilities still seek to target the United States and Europe, creating an ongoing requirement for counterterrorism activities.