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Hassan Nasrallah's Son-In-Law Killed in Israeli Airstrike on Damascus

People stand near the targeted building in the Mezzeh neighborhood in Damascus (EPA)
People stand near the targeted building in the Mezzeh neighborhood in Damascus (EPA)
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Hassan Nasrallah's Son-In-Law Killed in Israeli Airstrike on Damascus

People stand near the targeted building in the Mezzeh neighborhood in Damascus (EPA)
People stand near the targeted building in the Mezzeh neighborhood in Damascus (EPA)

Slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's son-in-law, Hassan Jafar Qassir, was killed in an Israeli raid which targeted an apartment in a residential building in the Mezzeh district of Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Hassan is the brother of Muhammad Jafar Qassir, who was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut two days ago. According to the Observatory, Muhammad was responsible for the transfer of Hezbollah weapons from Syria to Lebanon.

On Wednesday, media reports said Hassan Jafar Qassir was killed in an Israeli strike that hit the first floor of a three-story building frequented by Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps leaders in the Mezzeh district.

Three people were killed in the strike, including two non-Syrians. At least four unidentified people were injured.

The Mezzeh district is home to Syrian security and military headquarters, as well as embassies and UN agencies.

The targeted building is located about half a kilometer from the site of a raid that targeted last Tuesday two mini-buses, killing three civilians including a media worker, as well as three pro-Iran fighters, including a Hezbollah member, AFP reported.

Since Syria's civil war erupted in 2011, Israel has conducted hundreds of strikes in the country, targeting army positions and Iran-allied fighters, including Hezbollah.

The strikes have increased in recent days, including on areas near the border with Lebanon.

Tens of thousands of people have crossed into Syria over the past week, fleeing heavy Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon.

Israeli authorities rarely comment on individual strikes in Syria, but have repeatedly said they will not allow arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence there.

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Arab World

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.

Arab World

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.

Arab World

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.”