A senior Trump administration official met Egyptian leaders in Cairo last week to discuss a plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza.
The United States has reportedly used Egypt’s water security crisis as leverage to pressure Cairo into accepting the plan of forcibly relocation of Gaza’s Palestinians, according to The New Arab’s Arabic language edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
Trump stunned the world today with his blithely unapologetic plans for the mass ethnic cleansing and terraforming of Gaza, after receiving a “golden pager” memento from a smirking Netanyahu—a more cretinous tableau could hardly be imagined:
Syria’s transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan are expected to discuss a joint defense pact in Ankara on Tuesday, including establishing Turkish airbases in central Syria and training for Syria’s new army, four sources familiar with the matter said.
Lebanon’s health ministry reported on Sunday that Israeli forces, after missing the agreed withdrawal deadline, killed 24 Lebanese civilians and injured 130 more after opening fire on protesters.
The incident came hours before news broke that the deadline was extended until 18 February. Tensions had flared in southern Lebanon as demonstrators, some waving Hezbollah flags, attempted to enter multiple villages still under Israeli control. The protesters voiced anger over Israel’s failure to meet the original Sunday deadline to withdraw.
Images verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad unit shed light on Israel’s plans after it expanded area of control in Syria.
Israel is building military bases in the demilitarised buffer zone with Syria, according to satellite images seen by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification unit.
On February 3, 2025, the Australian Government imposed anti-terror sanctions on several entities worldwide, including Lebanese Hizbullah’s new Secretary-General Na’im Qassem, saying the Iran-backed organization is responsible for the deaths of countless civilians in Lebanon, Israel and across the Middle East.[1]
On the following day, Lebanese Hizbullah and Palestinian factions, The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement (PMM) and The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), issued press releases condemning Australia’s sanctions as an “antagonistic” move aimed at breaking the will of the resistance against the “nation of injustice” and “Zio-Western hegemony.”
Hizbullah: The Sanctions Reveal Australia As “A Subservient Instrument In The Service Of The American-Zionist Project”
On February 4, 2025, Hizbullah issued a press release saying that the Australian government’s decision to impose anti-terror sanctions once again reveals the true face of Australia as a “subservient instrument in the service of the American-Zionist project.”[2]
It called the decision “unjust” and lacking the legal and moral basis: “It rather represents a clear bias towards the Zionist entity and a cover-up for its aggression and terrorism,” noting that the Australian government should have punished Israel instead, and stood by the oppressed peoples of Lebanon and Palestine.
Additionally, Hizbullah affirmed that this decision will not have any effect on Hizbullah’s “natural right” to resist and defend Lebanon and the Lebanese people, and to support the “just Palestinian cause.”
“Rather, it will increase its determination and steadfastness to continue the march in confronting the occupier.”
The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement: Australian Government Sanctions “Reveal Western Subservience To The Zionist Aspirations”
The PMM press release opens by saying: “The Australian government’s decision, which goes in line with the Western trend to besiege the resistance forces and designate them on terror lists, comes in the context of protecting the Nazi Zionist entity, and reveals the reality of the Western subservience to the Zionist aspirations.”[3]
The movement further stated that resistance is a legitimate right, and a patriotic duty, in the face of Israel’s “genocidal war supported by the West,” adding that Australia and other countries should impose sanctions on, and designate Israel, as a “terrorist entity” for the “ethnic cleansing and brutality” against the Palestinian people.
“These antagonistic decisions and Western scheming will not succeed in breaking the will of our nation’s resistance and legitimate efforts to get rid of the injustice and Zionist-Western hegemony.”
The PFLP: The Australian Authorities’ Decision Is “Further Evidence Of Involvement In The American-Zionist Project Against The Resistance Forces”
For its part, the PFLP issued a press release[4] strongly condemning the Australian government’s decision as “further evidence of the Australian authorities’ involvement in the American-Zionist project that aims to besiege the resistance forces and attempt to subjugate them.”
The group argued that the decision is part of an ongoing Western war against resistance movements, where “old and new colonial powers continue to target everyone that confronts their antagonistic projects and rejects their hegemony” in Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, and every arena where the banner of the resistance continues to fly.
The PFLP stressed its firm support for Hizbullah and its leader, and called on others to condemn Australia’s decision and “expose its subordination to the American-Zionist axis.”
“Resistance is not terrorism. It is a source of pride and honor, and a legitimate right for all people who reject occupation and aggression,” it declared.
[1] Foreignminister.gov.au/February 4, 2025.
[2] Telegram, February 4, 2025.
[3] Telegram, February 4, 2025.
[4] February 3, 2025.
Introduction
After the Israel-Hamas ceasefire went into effect January 19, 2025, senior Iranian regime officials, headed by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, praised the resistance of the Palestinian people for, as they depicted it, forcing Israel to submit to its demands and accept the ceasefire. Along with statements such as “the ultimate victory belongs to the Palestinian people,” regime spokesmen promised that the Iran-led resistance axis would be rebuilt and continue to fight to eradicate Israel and would also continue to herald the achievements of the aim of Iran’s Islamic Revolution – the imminent destruction of the State of Israel.
Q. Has Turkey taken any steps to acquire nuclear weapons?
Ankara appears to be taking quiet but deliberate steps toward producing enriched uranium fuel, which has dual purposes in fueling nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. In October 2024, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and National Intelligence Chief Ibrahim Kalin visited Niger, securing a provisional mining agreement with the country’s junta government. The most plausible explanation for this deal is Turkey’s intent to secure access to uranium, potentially laying the groundwork for developing the fuel cycle to produce enriched uranium.
President Donald Trump’s stunning proposal to forcibly transfer hundreds of thousands of Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and develop it as a tourist destination faces major obstacles.
The Palestinians and many others view such plans as an attempt to drive them from their homeland after Israel’s 15-month offensive against Hamas rendered much of it uninhabitable. It was also seen as an attempt to liquidate their decades-long struggle for a state, which has wide international support.
On January 29, 2025, a “Convention to Announce the Victory of the Syrian Revolution” was held in Damascus, where Ahmed Al-Sharaa aka Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani, who had served as leader of jihadi group Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), was announced interim president of Syria.[1] A “Statement Announcing the Victory of the Syrian Revolution” was also issued by the HTS-linked Military Operations Command, cancelling the Assad regime’s 2012 constitution, disbanding the People’s Assembly, and dissolving the previous regime’s military, security agencies and militias, as well as the Baath party and National Progressive Front. The statement also announced the dissolution of all rebel military factions and political and civilian institutions, merging them into those of the Syrian state.[2]