Israel is behind a secret pact with the United Arab Emirates to destroy Saudi Arabia’s role as the Gulf’s regional powerbroker. The astonishing claim is just one of a series of sensational statements made by a senior Arab royal whistle blower to Middle East Monitor on Tuesday evening.
Iraqi PM al-Sudani says he can only disarm factions after the US-led coalition withdraws, linking state control of weapons to the end of the foreign military presence.
In a significant and carefully worded declaration that lays bare the central paradox of Iraq’s security dilemma, the Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has asserted that his government’s pledge to bring all weapons under the control of the state can only be fulfilled once the U.S.-led international coalition has completely withdrawn from the country.
The decisive shift in the Red Sea corridor is not in Yemen but in Somalia – where Turkey has built an offshore chapter of a strategic order the world refuses to face. The Houthis and Iran fill headlines, but the centre of gravity has shifted: a NATO state is projecting power far beyond its borders, and everyone looks away.
Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA), through the dedicated efforts of its Department of Statistics and Publications, publishes its annual Gregorian calendar-based analytical and statistical report on the human rights situation in Iran for the one-year period (January 1, 2025, to January 1, 2026). This report is the culmination of the organization’s daily endeavors in recent years, forming part of a daily statistical project that began in 2009. It provides an analytical-statistical overview of human rights in Iran.
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli military will never withdraw from the war-torn Gaza Strip, confirming earlier comments about settlement construction despite Trump’s ceasefire agreement signed in October.
“In Gaza, Israel will never fully withdraw – there will be a significant security area inside the Strip, even after we move to stage two [of Trump’s 20-point peace plan] if Hamas disarms,” Katz said during a conference hosted by the Makor Rishon newspaper, the Times of Israel reported.
Europe entered 2025 at a level of energy security that would have seemed out of reach only a few years ago. Gas storage exceeded 70% in January, an exceptionally high level for the season, while overall demand remains roughly 15% lower than in previous years. This decline is not temporary but the result of several factors that have permanently reshaped the continent’s energy landscape. Mild winters have reduced heating needs, the energy‑saving policies adopted after 2022 have now become embedded in industrial and household behavior, and the gradual de‑industrialization in certain sectors, especially in Germany, has lowered demand in ways that will be difficult to fully reverse.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has for the first time outlined the main elements of a draft 20-point peace framework being discussed by Ukraine and the United States, which he said could form the basis of future agreements to end the war with Russia.
This week the US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa held a critical hearing regarding a long standing crisis with the title “ A Dire Crisis in Sudan: A Global Call to Action”. The subject matter is indeed timely, The situation in Sudan has gotten worse however the situation has been overshadowed by other crisis spots.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) carried out raid and arrest campaigns in the eastern Aleppo countryside today, Wednesday, 24 December, amid accusations that Syrian government forces violated the truce around the al-Ashrafiya and Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhoods in Aleppo city (northern Syria).
Syrian state run al-Ikhbariya reported that the campaign targeted the villages of Wadihah and al-Hayit in the eastern Maskanah countryside (eastern Aleppo Governorate, northern Syria), without providing further details on the reasons for the operation or the number of detainees.
Recent developments in Iraq show that the country is on the cusp of a deep geopolitical and economic transformation, as the recent elections are a focal point for reshaping the balance of regional power. Iraq, with its oil and gas wealth and strategic location linking the Gulf to Turkey and Europe, is gradually becoming a geo-economic competition between Iran and Turkey, the Gulf-American axis and the West. As world powers race to invest in ports, corridors and energy, Iraq’s future remains dependent on its ability to employ this competition in building stability and development.