The National’s interviews with residents, local officials and commanders reveal a complex picture of a scarred city
Entering Sweida, the southern heartland of Syria’s Druze community, feels like crossing into another country.
Amid the present ceasefire, Gaza finds itself divided between territory that remains under Hamas’ control and territory occupied by Israeli forces where a number of anti-Hamas armed groups backed by Israel also operate.
The anti-Hamas factions are often dismissed as simply being opportunistic criminals or accused of being ‘ISIS-linked.’ I find the latter in particular to be unconvincing: at most, what the various allegations show so far (if assumed to be true) is that some members of these groups were previously members of Islamic State or Islamic State-linked, not that the groups themselves are presently affiliated with or linked to the Islamic State. In any event, their orientation and actions wholly contradict the Islamic State’s outlook, which rejects all notions of Palestinian nationalism or collaboration with Israel and insists on a worldwide religious war against Jews.
As for the former suggestion, it is often used to imply that the anti-Hamas groups somehow do not have any real political motivations. But there is no reason to think that (assumed for this purpose) criminal activity is somehow mutually exclusive from political motivation. As an analogy, consider the case of Hezbollah. It is credibly accused of involvement in criminal activity on an international scale, but that does not mean the group is somehow insincere in its belief that it upholds and represents Shia interests in Lebanon, or that it does not really oppose Israel’s existence.
In a similar vein, it seems credible to me that these anti-Hamas factions genuinely oppose the group’s rule over Gaza, believe that Hamas’ approach has brought disaster upon the Palestinians and the Palestinian cause, and genuinely think that a pragmatic approach towards Israel is the best way forward. It is at least worth talking to them to try to understand their motivations and reasoning.
Below is an interview I recently conducted with Hussam al-Astl, who commands one such anti-Hamas group that calls itself the ‘Counter-Terrorism Strike Force’. The interview was conducted on 28 December 2025 and is slightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Ce qui n’était au départ qu’une progression lente des colons s’est transformé ces trois dernières années en une campagne d’expulsion massive soutenue par l’État.
AL-MAGHAYYER, Cisjordanie occupée – En l’espace de quatre ans, Fidda Mohammad Naasan, 50 ans, et sa famille ont été violemment déracinées de leurs maisons et de leurs terres en Cisjordanie occupée, non pas une, mais deux fois. Après avoir été relogées une seconde fois, elles continuent de subir quotidiennement des attaques et des mauvais traitements incessants de la part de colons et de soldats israéliens déterminés à les chasser de leurs terres une fois de plus.
The plea from Iran’s regime is clearly a last-ditch effort to hold on to power so the mullahs can keep on torturing, slaughtering and putting out the eyes of their citizens.
Whenever Iran’s regime feels weak, it discovers “negotiations.” In Shia Islam, you are told that if “Islam” is being threatened, you are to practice dissimulation (taqiyya). For Iran’s mullahs, “talks” have always been a tactic to buy time, reduce pressure, and strengthen their hand.
This new military law appears, on the surface, to be environmentally friendly, but its essence is dangerous: it continues the policy of land confiscation.
Residents of the town of Ni’lin, west of Ramallah, were surprised by an Israeli military order to confiscate a plot of land under the recently issued Israeli anti-pollution law enforced over the occupied West Bank.
It is hard to tell which, so far, is the greatest scam of the century: “Climate Change” while watching North America enjoying its global warming; Putin’s protestations of wanting peace while demolishing Ukraine, or the trap being lubricatively laid for US President Donald J. Trump throughout much of the Middle East.
While Washington searches for ways to weaken Iran’s murderous rulers, our supposed NATO ally Turkey is working overtime to keep the mullahs alive — and in power.
This week’s diplomatic tug-of-war over US-Iran negotiations is a win for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s Islamist strongman, who has led a cynical campaign to stall for time and block US and Israeli military action against the Islamic Republic after its brutal crackdown on civilian protesters.
HTS is a radical terrorist organization that is directly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people in Syria in the past seven years. Although the organization liberated Syria from its brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad, we recommend that you never forget its origins and deeds along the way, which may suggest a new brutal dictatorship. Al-Julani and his designated ministers already stated that Syria will be a country of Sharia law. They even use the jihadist flag.
The Middle East has finally arrived at the grim reckoning long barreling toward it: a ruinous collapse of oil revenues that renders government deficits utterly unsustainable.
Among the wealthy Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, four are running persistent annual budget deficits that are eroding their sovereign wealth reserves and plunging their finances into terminal decline, condemning their economies to stagnation.
Key Takeaways