International

Netanyahu: “Israel’s policy in Syria will depend on the emerging reality”

The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, assured this Sunday in a video statement that Israel will determine its policy towards Syria according to the emerging reality in the country, which barely celebrates a week off from the regime of Bashar al-Assad and is still setting down a new transitional government.

“We have no interest in confronting Syria. We will determine Israel’s policy towards Syria based on the emerging reality on the ground,” Netanyahu said.

Israeli troops have been invading the border area between the Golan Heights (Syrian territory that Israel has occupied since 1967) and Syria for a week to eliminate, according to Tel Aviv, threats against the country.

The president assured that Syria has been an “active enemy” of Israel over the decades, allowing attacks on its territory or Iran’s arms trafficking to the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.

Transitionaly government

Since the overthrow of Al Asad, Syria has embarked on a transitional government with Mohamed al Bashir as acting prime minister until next March, as well as the leader of the insurgent coalition, the Islamist Ahmed al Charaa (known as the war name of Abu Mohamed al Jolani), as the “strong man” of the country.

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In this context, and although Israel celebrates the fall of Bashar al-Assad as a symbol of Iran’s weakness that it claims as its own triumph, the concern is growing in the Hebrew State about what kind of regime will go ahead in Syria and how it will affect the balance of power in the region.

The Israeli operation in the demilitarized Syrian zone, a territory that invaded a week ago for the first time in 50 years, is aimed at destroying weapons that could be used like Israel, as well as weapons smuggling routes from Iran to Hezbulah, a group with which the ceasefire in Lebanon began on November 27.

In this sense, the Israeli leader issued a warning to the region, reiterating that Israel will act “in any arena and at any time” to avoid the rearmament of the pro-Iranian group.

“Challenges” before Israel

Netanyahu assured that there are still “challengs” against Israel: “Iran, with its damn agents, and other potential threats, because reality is dynamic and is changing rapidly.”

The Israeli Prime Minister discussed all this in a call last night with the elected president of the United States, Donald Trump, in a conversation that he described as “very important” about the situation in the region, and in which they talked about “the need to complete Israel’s victory.”

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Since the beginning of the war in Gaza on October 7, 2023, which later led to the war in Lebanon with Hezbollah and conditioned the fall of Al Asad in Lebanon (by weakening this Lebanese militia, one of its main allies), Netanyahu defends achieving a “total victory” over Hamas that has been transferred to the rest of the open fronts he maintains in the Middle East.

International

Guatemala considers sending high-risk gang members to military prisons

Amid the escalating crisis in Guatemala’s prison system, the government is considering transferring high-risk gang members to military-run detention facilities, a move that analysts say could help address overcrowding and the lack of control in civilian prisons.

The debate has gained urgency following the killing of ten police officers by gang members, reportedly in retaliation after the government refused to meet demands made by Aldo Dupie Ochoa, alias “El Lobo,” leader of the Barrio 18 gang, which authorities identified as responsible for the attack.

Guatemala’s Minister of Defense, Henry David Sáenz, told local media that the possibility of relocating high-danger inmates to military brigades has not been formally discussed. However, he noted that the practice is not new to the Armed Forces and said it is something that “was already being done.”

One example is the detention center located within the Mariscal Zavala Military Brigade, in Zone 17 of Guatemala City, where several inmates are held under military supervision. The facility also houses high-profile detainees, including former official Eduardo Masaya, who faces corruption charges.

In 2015, a ministerial agreement authorized the establishment of the Zone Seventeen Detention Center within the brigade, with a maximum capacity of 114 inmates in Area A and 21 in Area B. The agreement specified that the facility would be used exclusively for civilians or military personnel considered at risk of assassination.

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Additionally, since 2010, a prison has operated within the Matamoros Barracks in Zone 1 of Guatemala City, holding dangerous or high-profile inmates. However, media outlets have described these military detention centers as “VIP prisons,” particularly for former government officials such as ex-president Otto Pérez Molina.

International

Rights group says over 5,000 killed in Iran protests, mostly civilians

A U.S.-based human rights group said on Friday it has confirmed that more than 5,000 people were killed during the recent protests in Iran, most of them civilians allegedly shot by security forces.

Non-governmental organizations monitoring the toll from the crackdown on what have been described as the largest demonstrations in Iran in years said their work has been hampered by an internet shutdown imposed by authorities since January 8. They warned that the actual death toll is likely significantly higher.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), based in the United States, reported on Friday that it had verified the deaths of 5,002 people, including 4,714 protesters, 42 minors, 207 members of the security forces, and 39 bystanders.

The group added, however, that it is still investigating an additional 9,787 possible deaths, underscoring the difficulty of independently confirming information amid ongoing restrictions and repression.

International

Japan reopens Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Plant despite public concerns

La centrale nucléaire japonaise de Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, la plus grande au monde, a repris ses activités mercredi pour la première fois depuis la catastrophe de Fukushima en 2011, malgré les inquiétudes persistantes d’une partie de la population.

La remise en service a eu lieu à 19h02 heure locale (10h02 GMT), a indiqué à l’AFP Tatsuya Matoba, porte-parole de la compagnie Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco).

Le gouverneur de la préfecture de Niigata, où se situe la centrale, avait donné son feu vert à la reprise le mois dernier, en dépit d’une opinion publique divisée. Selon une enquête menée en septembre par la préfecture elle-même, 60 % des habitants se déclaraient opposés au redémarrage, contre 37 % favorables.

Mardi, plusieurs dizaines de manifestants ont bravé le froid et la neige pour protester près de l’entrée du site, sur les rives de la mer du Japon.

« L’électricité de Tokyo est produite à Kashiwazaki. Pourquoi seuls les habitants d’ici devraient-ils être exposés au danger ? Cela n’a aucun sens », a déclaré à l’AFP Yumiko Abe, une riveraine de 73 ans.

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La centrale de Kashiwazaki-Kariwa avait été mise à l’arrêt lorsque le Japon a fermé l’ensemble de ses réacteurs nucléaires à la suite du triple désastre de mars 2011 — un séisme, un tsunami et un accident nucléaire — survenu à Fukushima.