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.
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.”
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
Trump to Meet Qatari Leaders During Asia Stopover to Discuss Gaza Peace
U.S. President Donald Trump will meet on Saturday with the Emir and Prime Minister of Qatar during a stopover on his trip to Asia, officials reported. Qatar plays a key role in maintaining the fragile peace agreement in Gaza.
The Qatari leaders will board Air Force One at the end of the day when it lands for refueling at Al Udeid Air Base, the regional headquarters of U.S. military forces, a White House official said.
This marks Trump’s first trip to Asia since taking office in January. His agenda includes two regional summits, a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and planned encounters with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
In Qatar, the previously unannounced meeting will also include U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who recently returned from Israel after working to maintain the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Qatar has been a key mediator in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas since the conflict began and is one of the guarantors of the peace deal alongside the United States, Turkey, and Egypt.
This week, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss critical next steps in the agreement, including the establishment of a security force in Gaza and the future of Hamas. Meanwhile, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has been a central negotiator since the outbreak of the war following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
International
Maduro Requests Supreme Court to Strip Opposition Leader López of Venezuelan Citizenship
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has requested that the country’s Supreme Court revoke the nationality of opposition leader Leopoldo López, accusing him of promoting a U.S. military invasion of Venezuela, the government reported on Saturday.
There is no precedent of Venezuelans born in the country being stripped of their nationality, and the Venezuelan Constitution explicitly prohibits it. Caracas has previously accused López and other opposition figures of seeking to overthrow Maduro.
Maduro now claims that López and his allies are supporting the deployment of U.S. warships, fighter jets, and troops in the Caribbean, which the White House says are part of anti-narcotics operations. The Venezuelan president insists that the military presence aims to remove him from power.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil stated on his Telegram channel that Maduro “filed a request with the Supreme Court of Justice to revoke Leopoldo López’s nationality.”
Gil added that the request was made “due to his grotesque, criminal, and illegal call for a military invasion of Venezuela, his ongoing promotion of the economic blockade, and his call for mass killings of Venezuelans in collusion with foreign governments and enemies.”
However, the Dean of the Faculty of Legal and Political Sciences at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), the country’s main public university, told AFP that the law does not allow the revocation of nationality for Venezuelans by birth.
International
Pentagon deploys USS Gerald R. Ford after narco-boat operation kills six
The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Friday the deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest warship in the country, to the Caribbean Sea. The mission is part of efforts to strengthen the fight against drug trafficking and transnational organized crime in Latin America.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell stated that the deployment will enhance the U.S. operational capacity to detect, monitor, and dismantle illicit actors and activities within the Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) area of responsibility.
He added that the operation will bolster existing capabilities to reduce drug trafficking and counter the activities of transnational criminal organizations operating in the region.
The announcement comes just hours after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the death of six crew members of a narco-boat in the Caribbean during a U.S.-led operation. The vessel was linked to the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua, one of the most violent groups in the region.
The incident has heightened diplomatic tensions between the United States and several Latin American governments, particularly Colombia and Venezuela, following direct statements by President Donald Trump.
Trump to Meet Qatari Leaders During Asia Stopover to Discuss Gaza Peace
Maduro Requests Supreme Court to Strip Opposition Leader López of Venezuelan Citizenship
Pentagon deploys USS Gerald R. Ford after narco-boat operation kills six
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
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