Orientul Mijlociu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has concluded his visit to the United States, returning home after reportedly securing yet another round of political backing from Donald Trump. As with previous encounters, the meeting provided Netanyahu with diplomatic cover and strategic reassurance, reinforcing Israel’s ability to sustain its military posture in Gaza and across the region with limited external constraint.

The Syrian Ministry of Finance has issued a decision imposing strict provisional seizure on the assets and establishments of prominent businessman Abdullah Nizam, along with a wide network of his partners and family members. The measure comes as part of ongoing investigations into money laundering and illicit enrichment, with the financial sums involved exceeding four hundred and seventy-five million US dollars.

Details of the Decision and the Scope of the Seizure

The Middle East region could transition in 2026 to peace and stability or, perhaps more likely, backslide into regional conflagration.
Conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, and Yemen, as well as political divisions in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria, are unlikely to fully resolve in 2026 and will require consistent attention from U.S., regional, and global diplomats.
The Trump team will struggle in 2026 to “pivot” from the Middle East to other regions, in part because the U.S. has become the broker, mediator, and guarantor of ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza, and security cooperation between Israel and Syria.
The potential threat of additional military action by Israel and the U.S. against Iran will loom in 2026, but Iran might emerge as a bright spot for regional stability if expanding protests there unexpectedly oust the regime.

More than a week of protests in Iran reflects not only worsening economic conditions, but longstanding anger at government repression and regime policies that have led to Iran’s global isolation.
Regime security forces have thus far failed to quell the unrest with limited use of violence, but leaders have signaled they will again use massive armed force if necessary against protesters.
Regional leaders assess that a collapse of the regime, although unlikely, would usher in a long period of instability in Iran, but also lessen the threat posed by Tehran to other regional and global actors.
President Trump has threatened to intervene directly to support the protests, an unprecedented U.S. stance which might embolden demonstrators or, alternatively, discredit them as U.S. puppets.

Intervenția străină în Iran, care are o populație de 90 de milioane de locuitori, ar putea duce la destabilizarea și haosul în regiune.

Această opinie a fost exprimată într-un comentariu pentru Ukrinform de către cunoscutul expert turc în afaceri internaționale și jurnalist Güngör Yavuzaslan, scrie Ukrinform.

La multiplication des liens entre Al Shabaab et les Houthis favorise les deux groupes militants et contribue à accroître les menaces maritimes et terrestres de part et d’autre du golfe d’Aden.

Les preuves d’une collaboration croissante entre Al Shabaab en Somalie et les Houthis du Yémen augmentent les risques pour le trafic maritime dans la mer Rouge, le golfe d’Aden et l’océan Indien occidental, tout en renforçant la capacité de nuisance des deux groupes.

HRANA – Nationwide protests in Iran continued on their twelfth day, Thursday, January 8, 2026, according to reports collected by HRANA. Demonstrations and protest actions were recorded in at least 46 cities across 21 provinces. At the same time, a wave of strikes and market closures was reported, particularly in Kurdish regions, with dozens of cities in Kurdistan, West Azerbaijan, Kermanshah, and Ilam provinces joining the strikes.

Who calls the shots in Iran on economic policy, security, and domestic calls for reform? A look at the government’s organization chart indicates how complicated the answer is.

Iran’s system of government is not quite a democracy, nor a theocracy. Founding Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini developed its animating doctrine, known as guardianship of the jurist, in the years before the Islamic Republic’s establishment in 1979. Khomeini posited that a just government was possible if religious scholars sat atop it to ensure consistency with Islamic law. This system was put into place with a constitutional referendum after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The organs of a modern republic—a unicameral legislature (the majlis), executive led by the president, and judiciary—were enveloped by a clerical system. (Most of Iran’s clerical hierarchy, however, remains outside this official structure, based in Qom rather than the capital, Tehran.)

Israel faces mounting challenges: a stalled ceasefire in Gaza, rising Hezbollah threats in Lebanon, and a critical security opportunity with Syria.

With ceasefires unraveling on nearly every front, Israel is once again confronting the unstable reality of the Middle East.

Protests in Iran raged Friday night in the Islamic Republic, online videos purported to show, despite a threat from the country’s theocracy to crack down on demonstrators after shutting down the internet and cutting telephone lines off to the world.

At least 65 people have been killed in the protests that began in late December over Iran’s ailing economy and have morphed into the most significant challenge to the government in years.