UN-Sponsored International Peace Conference to Address Palestinian Cause in Bahrain

Arab foreign ministers met in Manama on Tuesday in preparation for the summit. (dpa)
Arab foreign ministers met in Manama on Tuesday in preparation for the summit. (dpa)
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UN-Sponsored International Peace Conference to Address Palestinian Cause in Bahrain

Arab foreign ministers met in Manama on Tuesday in preparation for the summit. (dpa)
Arab foreign ministers met in Manama on Tuesday in preparation for the summit. (dpa)

The Permanent Representative of Palestine to the League of Arab States said that leaders at the Arab Summit in Bahrain on Thursday will call for an international peace conference to resolve the Palestinian cause, under the auspices of the United Nations.

Ambassador Muhannad Al-Aklouk revealed that the Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs confirmed, during his speech at the meeting of Arab foreign ministers, that the summit will adopt a set of Arab initiatives, including “holding an international peace conference to resolve the Palestinian issue, under the auspices of (the United Nations), on the territory of Bahrain.”

Al-Aklouk added that Palestine welcomes and supports the initiative, and considers it a response to the peace plan previously presented by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2018.

In press statements on the sidelines of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Manama, on Tuesday, the permanent representative of Palestine to the Arab League said that the conference aims to launch a serious political process with a specific time limit, leading to ending the occupation on the basis of international references for the peace process, including the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.

“The Bahrain summit is expected to adopt the term genocide to describe the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, which claimed thousands of lives and caused the destruction of infrastructure,” he remarked.

Al-Aklouk went on to say that other measures are expected to be announced during the summit, including “calling on the Security Council to adopt a resolution under Chapter Seven of the (United Nations) Charter to oblige Israel to commit to a ceasefire,” stressing that Chapter Seven “includes imposing sanctions if the decisions are not implemented.”

“The Arab Summit is scheduled to consider the invasion of the city of Rafah as an attack on Arab national security,” he stated, pointing to the threats to Egypt’s security.



Israeli Military Says Detained Suspected ISIS Militant in Syria

FILE PHOTO: Israeli military vehicles manoeuvre along the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, November 24, 2025. REUTERS/Shir Torem/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Israeli military vehicles manoeuvre along the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, November 24, 2025. REUTERS/Shir Torem/File Photo
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Israeli Military Says Detained Suspected ISIS Militant in Syria

FILE PHOTO: Israeli military vehicles manoeuvre along the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, November 24, 2025. REUTERS/Shir Torem/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Israeli military vehicles manoeuvre along the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, November 24, 2025. REUTERS/Shir Torem/File Photo

The Israeli military said on Saturday its forces had arrested a suspected ISIS militant in Syria earlier this week and taken him back to Israel.

In a statement, the military said that on Wednesday "soldiers completed an operation in the area of Rafid in southern Syria to apprehend a suspected terrorist affiliated with ISIS.”

"The suspect was transferred for further processing in Israeli territory," the statement said.


Report: Colombian Mercenaries in Sudan ‘Recruited by UK-registered Firms’

(COMBO) This combination of satellite images released by Planet Labs PBC on December 19, 2025, shows from top left to bottom right:- the graves near the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) headquarters in El-Fasher, taken on the following dates: on October 8, 2025, on October 27, 2025, on January 15, 2025, and on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Handout / Planet Labs / AFP)
(COMBO) This combination of satellite images released by Planet Labs PBC on December 19, 2025, shows from top left to bottom right:- the graves near the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) headquarters in El-Fasher, taken on the following dates: on October 8, 2025, on October 27, 2025, on January 15, 2025, and on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Handout / Planet Labs / AFP)
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Report: Colombian Mercenaries in Sudan ‘Recruited by UK-registered Firms’

(COMBO) This combination of satellite images released by Planet Labs PBC on December 19, 2025, shows from top left to bottom right:- the graves near the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) headquarters in El-Fasher, taken on the following dates: on October 8, 2025, on October 27, 2025, on January 15, 2025, and on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Handout / Planet Labs / AFP)
(COMBO) This combination of satellite images released by Planet Labs PBC on December 19, 2025, shows from top left to bottom right:- the graves near the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) headquarters in El-Fasher, taken on the following dates: on October 8, 2025, on October 27, 2025, on January 15, 2025, and on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Handout / Planet Labs / AFP)

An exclusive investigation by UK’s The Guardian has found companies hiring hundreds of Colombian fighters for Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces.

A one-bedroom flat off north London’s Creighton Road in Tottenham is, according to UK government records, tied to a transnational network of companies involved in the mass recruitment of mercenaries to fight in Sudan alongside the RSF, said the report.

Colombian mercenaries were directly involved in the RSF’s seizure of the southwestern Sudanese city of El Fasher in late October, which prompted a killing frenzy that analysts say has cost at least 60,000 lives.

“The flat in Tottenham is registered to a company called Zeuz Global, set up by two individuals named and sanctioned last week by the US treasury for hiring Colombian mercenaries to fight for the RSF,” said The Guardian.

“Both figures – Colombian nationals in their 50s – are described in documents at Companies House, the government register of firms operating in the UK, as living in Britain,” it said.

“The day after the US treasury announced sanctions on those behind the Colombian mercenary operation –December 9 – Zeuz Global abruptly moved its operation to the very heart of London. On 10 December the firm shared “new address details” Its new postcode matches One Aldwych, a five-star hotel in Covent Garden,” the report added.

Yet the first line of Zeuz Global’s new address is, confusingly, “4dd Aldwych,” which corresponds to the Waldorf Hilton hotel 100 meters away, according to The Guardian.

Both hotels said they had no link to Zeuz Global and had no idea why the firm had used their postcodes.

“It is of major concern that the key individuals the US government claims are directing this mercenary supply have been able to set up a UK company operating from a flat in north London, and even to claim that they’re resident in the UK,” said Mike Lewis, a researcher and former member of the UN panel of experts on Sudan.

When Companies House was asked if it had any knowledge of what Zeuz Global actually did, or is doing, it did not respond. The government agency would also not confirm whether the sanctioned individuals were, in fact, resident in the UK.

Contacting Zeuz proved fruitless; its website, set up in May, was labelled as “under construction” with no contact details provided.


Egyptian President Urges UN Security Council Reforms for Africa's Larger Role

In this photo, provided by Egypt's presidency media office, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, front right, greets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, left, before their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (Egyptian Presidency Media Office via AP)
In this photo, provided by Egypt's presidency media office, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, front right, greets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, left, before their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (Egyptian Presidency Media Office via AP)
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Egyptian President Urges UN Security Council Reforms for Africa's Larger Role

In this photo, provided by Egypt's presidency media office, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, front right, greets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, left, before their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (Egyptian Presidency Media Office via AP)
In this photo, provided by Egypt's presidency media office, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, front right, greets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, left, before their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (Egyptian Presidency Media Office via AP)

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi on Saturday reiterated calls for structural changes in the UN Security Council to grant Africa a larger role in shaping global decisions.

El-Sisi made the plea for a “more pluralistic” world order at a conference of the Russia-Africa partnership held in Cairo, which was attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and ministers from more than 50 African countries along with representatives from several African and regional organizations.

“The voice of Africa should be present and influential in making global decisions given the continent’s human, economic, political and demographic weight,” el-Sisi said in a statement read out by his foreign minister at the plenary session of the conference.

According to The Associated Press, he added that international financial institutions need to undergo similar reforms to ensure Africa an equitable representation.

Since 2005, the African Union has been demanding that Africa be granted two permanent seats with veto powers in the Security Council, arguing that such reforms would contribute to achieving peace and stability on the continent, which has been struggling with wars for decades.

The Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, has not changed from its 1945 configuration: 10 non-permanent members from all regions of the world elected for two-year terms without veto power, and five countries that were dominant powers at the end of World War II are permanent members with veto power: The United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

In his statement, el-Sisi said that the Russia-Africa ministerial conference will develop a plan to consolidate the partnership ahead of next year’s summit of heads of state.

“We remain a reliable partner for African states in strengthening their national sovereignty, both politically and in matters of security, as well as in other dimensions,” Lavrov said at the plenary session. “We’re committed to further unlocking the existing enormous potential of our practical cooperation.”