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Palestinian President Sends Delegation to Gaza to End Division

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with head of Hamas political bureau Ismail Haniyeh (File photo: Reuters)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with head of Hamas political bureau Ismail Haniyeh (File photo: Reuters)
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Palestinian President Sends Delegation to Gaza to End Division

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with head of Hamas political bureau Ismail Haniyeh (File photo: Reuters)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with head of Hamas political bureau Ismail Haniyeh (File photo: Reuters)

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) will send a delegation to the Gaza Strip within days to meet with Hamas officials and discuss the current division, which will set the stage for President Mahmoud Abbas’ upcoming visit, according to Palestinian officials.

Secretary-general of PLO's Executive Committee Saeb Erekat said that the Fatah delegation will head to Gaza next week to meet with Hamas officials followed by the President’s visit.

Earlier, Abbas received a call from the head of Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, and invited him to a meeting to find ways into confronting the deal of the century.

Abbas promised Haniyeh to visit Gaza, explaining that all factions are at risk, and called upon all Palestinians to put their differences aside.

Haniyeh rejected the deal of the century, which he said aims at terminating the Palestinian national project.

Haniyeh met with leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

This is the first time that Abbas has expressed his willingness to visit Gaza since Hamas took control of it in 2007. In 2014, Abbas sent a delegation to Gaza, and two days later it announced an agreement to form a unity government, but failed to unify the Palestinian homeland.

These are the first direct meetings in two years between the factions, after Fatah rejected any new talks regarding reconciliation, demanding Hamas hand over the sector according to the 2017 agreement, which was rejected by Hamas.

Hamas wants to implement the 2011 agreement because it calls for a unity government tasked with holding elections months after its formation. But, Fatah sticks to the 2017 agreement which forces Hamas to hand over the control of Gaza, including security, crossings, tax, the judiciary, and the land authority.

Over the past few years, Fatah and Hamas have exchanged accusations over the government's sanctions on the Gaza Strip and peace talks with Israel. But the two sides are now looking for a new and different phase.

Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said that the unified Palestinian position behind Abbas’ rejection of the deal of the century is a message to Israel and the US that the Palestinian people are united under their leadership to thwart this deal that will not pass and will fail, just as all previous conspiracies have failed.

Abu Rudeineh told reporters that all the Palestinian factions participated in the leadership meeting and affirmed their support to Abbas. He said there will be an expanded meeting of the Palestinian factions in Gaza next week to strengthen national unity and confront the US-Israeli deal.

Member of Fatah’s Central Committee Hussein al-Sheikh said that Abbas decided to send a delegation to the Strip to consolidate unity against the US conspiracy.

Hamas welcomed all members arriving in Gaza, and Haniyeh asserted that the movement rejects any agreement or deal that does not grant Palestinians all their rights.

Haniyeh addressed Abbas saying that all Palestinians must work together and agree on a strategy that ends division.

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Arab World

Türkiye Holds Military Funeral for Libyan Officers Killed in Plane Crash

The Libyan national flag flies at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)
The Libyan national flag flies at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)
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Türkiye Holds Military Funeral for Libyan Officers Killed in Plane Crash

The Libyan national flag flies at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)
The Libyan national flag flies at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)

Türkiye held a military funeral ceremony Saturday morning for five Libyan officers, including western Libya’s military chief, who died in a plane crash earlier this week.

The private jet with Gen. Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad, four other military officers and three crew members crashed on Tuesday after taking off from Ankara, Türkiye’s capital, killing everyone on board. Libyan officials said the cause of the crash was a technical malfunction on the plane.

Al-Hadad was the top military commander in western Libya and played a crucial role in the ongoing, UN-brokered efforts to unify Libya’s military.

The high-level Libyan delegation was on its way back to Tripoli, Libya’s capital, after holding defense talks in Ankara aimed at boosting military cooperation between the two countries.

Saturday's ceremony was held at 8:00 a.m. local time at the Murted Airfield base, near Ankara, and attended by the Turkish military chief and the defense minister. The five caskets, each wrapped in a Libyan national flag, were then loaded onto a plane to be returned to their home country.

Türkiye’s military chief, Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, was also on the plane headed to Libya, state-run news agency TRT reported.

The bodies recovered from the crash site were kept at the Ankara Forensic Medicine Institute for identification. Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc told reporters their DNA was compared to family members who joined a 22-person delegation that arrived from Libya after the crash.

Tunc also said Germany was asked to help examine the jet's black boxes as an impartial third party.

Arab World

Syrian Foreign Ministry: Talks with SDF Have Not Yielded Tangible Results

SDF fighters are seen at a military parade in Qamishli. (Reuters file)
SDF fighters are seen at a military parade in Qamishli. (Reuters file)
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Syrian Foreign Ministry: Talks with SDF Have Not Yielded Tangible Results

SDF fighters are seen at a military parade in Qamishli. (Reuters file)
SDF fighters are seen at a military parade in Qamishli. (Reuters file)

A source from the Syrian Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the talks with the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) over their integration into state institutions “have not yielded tangible results.”

Discussions about merging the northeastern institutions into the state remain “hypothetical statements without execution,” it told Syria’s state news agency SANA.

Repeated assertions over Syria’s unity are being contradicted by the reality on the ground in the northeast, where the Kurds hold sway and where administrative, security and military institutions continue to be run separately from the state, it added.

The situation “consolidates the division” instead of addressing it, it warned.

It noted that despite the SDF’s continued highlighting of its dialogue with the Syrian state, these discussions have not led to tangible results.

It seems that the SDF is using this approach to absorb the political pressure on it, said the source. The truth is that there is little actual will to move from discussion to application of the March 10 agreement.

This raises doubts over the SDF’s commitment to the deal, it stressed.

Talk about rapprochement between the state and SDF remains meaningless if the agreement is not implemented on the ground within a specific timeframe, the source remarked.

Furthermore, the continued deployment of armed formations on the ground that are not affiliated with the Syrian army are evidence that progress is not being made.

The persistence of the situation undermines Syria’s sovereignty and hampers efforts to restore stability, it warned.

Arab World

Terrorist Attack on Mosque in Syria’s Homs Draws Wide Condemnation

A view shows an interior of a damaged mosque after several people were killed in an explosion in Homs, Syria December 26, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows an interior of a damaged mosque after several people were killed in an explosion in Homs, Syria December 26, 2025. (Reuters)
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Terrorist Attack on Mosque in Syria’s Homs Draws Wide Condemnation

A view shows an interior of a damaged mosque after several people were killed in an explosion in Homs, Syria December 26, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows an interior of a damaged mosque after several people were killed in an explosion in Homs, Syria December 26, 2025. (Reuters)

Condemnations poured in across the Arab world and international community of the terrorist attack that targeted a mosque in Syria’s Homs city on Friday.

An explosion killed at least eight worshippers with the extremist group Saraya Ansar al-Sunna claiming responsibility.

In a statement on Telegram, the group said its fighters “detonated a number of explosive devices” in the Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque in the central Syrian city.

Syria's interior ministry said in a statement that “a terrorist explosion” targeted the mosque and that authorities had “begun investigating and collecting evidence to pursue the perpetrators of this criminal act.”

The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the attack, stressing the Kingdom’s “categorical rejection of terrorism and extremism in all their forms, including attacks on mosques and places of worship and the targeting of innocent civilians.”

It expressed the Kingdom’s “solidarity with Syria in this tragic incident and its support for the Syrian government’s efforts to uphold security and stability.”

Türkiye slammed the attack, saying it stands by Syria and its efforts to support stability, security and unity “despite all the provocations.”

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the “heinous terrorist attack,” saying Baghdad rejects all forms of terrorism, violence and extremism regardless of their motives.

It slammed the attack against civilians and places of worship, saying they aim to create instability and sow strife in society.

The ministry underlined Iraq’s support for regional and international efforts aimed at eliminating terrorism and drying up its sources of funding.

The United Arab Emirates condemned the attack, saying it rejects all forms of violence and terrorism that aim to undermine security and stability.

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry slammed the attack, voicing its full support to Syria in its reconstruction process “based on principles that ensure its territorial unity, sovereignty, security and stability.”

In Beirut, President Joseph Aoun slammed the Homs attack, saying Lebanon stands by Syria in its war on terrorism. He offered his condolences to the Syrian people.

Qatar slammed the attack, saying it fully stands by the Syrian government and all the measures it takes to preserve security.

France said the blast was an “act of terrorism” designed to destabilize the country, while United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned the “unacceptable” attack and said the perpetrators should be brought to justice.