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Al-Sudani: We Succeeded in Steering Iraq away from War, Fire Belt

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani
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Al-Sudani: We Succeeded in Steering Iraq away from War, Fire Belt

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani firmly addressed on Sunday recent reports about a possible change in Iraq’s political system or an Israeli strike against armed factions in the country.
At a ceremony held in Baghdad to mark the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi comrade, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the PM affirmed Iraq’s full readiness to respond and deter any attack, regardless of its source.
During the ceremony, attended by Asharq Al-Awsat, al-Sudani said the government was able to spare Iraq from being part of the conflict zone that was intended to expand beyond the borders of Gaza and Lebanon.
On Saturday, the PM had dismissed calls for changing the political system in the country in wake of the radical changes in Syria with the ouster of Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Speaking at a ceremony commemorating the death of former head of the Supreme Iraqi Council Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim in 2003, Sudani stressed that Iraq had sought to distance itself from the developments in Syria.
“Some parties are using the situation in Syria to attempt to change the system of rule in Iraq. This issue is not up for debate,” he declared, while acknowledging that the region had witnessed in over a year major developments that have resulted in significant political changes.
At the ceremony on Sunday, parliament Speaker Dr. Mahmoud al-Mashhadani called on important countries in the region such as Türkiye, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Jordan, to take a stand regarding the Israeli military advances in Syria following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Meanwhile, al-Sudani is scheduled to pay an official visit to Iran on Wednesday, his office said in a statement.
“The official visit will include discussions on bilateral relations between the two countries and ways to strengthen them, building on the progress made during the visit of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to Baghdad in September of last year, as well as addressing the latest regional developments,” the statement said.
The visit comes amid reports of a possible Israeli strike against Iran-backed armed factions in Iraq.
Ammar al-Hakim, leader of the National Wisdom Movement, revealed last week that a message was delivered to Baghdad confirming that certain Iraqi armed factions would be among Israel’s targets.

 

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Arab World

Lebanese PM to Asharq Al-Awsat: 2nd Phase of Disarmament to Begin Soon Covering Regions between Litani, Awali

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and ambassador Simon Karam meet on Saturday. (PM's office)
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and ambassador Simon Karam meet on Saturday. (PM's office)
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Lebanese PM to Asharq Al-Awsat: 2nd Phase of Disarmament to Begin Soon Covering Regions between Litani, Awali

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and ambassador Simon Karam meet on Saturday. (PM's office)
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and ambassador Simon Karam meet on Saturday. (PM's office)

Lebanon would have completed the first phase of the army’s plan to impose state monopoly over arms, or the disarmament of Hezbollah, by the end of the year.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s office confirmed on Saturday that the first phase was close to completion.

“The first phase of the weapons consolidation plan related to the area south of the Litani River is only days away from completion,” it said.

“The state is ready to move on to the second ‌phase - namely (confiscating weapons) north of the ‍Litani River - based on the ‍plan prepared by the Lebanese army pursuant to ‍a mandate from the government,” Salam added.

The cabinet will meet at the beginning of the new year after the first phase is completed.

Salam, meanwhile, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the second phase of the disarmament will cover the areas between the Litani and Awali Rivers to its north.

The third phase will cover Beirut and Mount Lebanon and the fourth covers the Bekaa followed by remaining regions.

Lebanese sources said the army has completed most of its report on its disarmament efforts south of the Litani. It has completed the confiscation and destruction of thousands of tons of ammunition and military gear. It has discovered around a hundred military tunnels in the region.

As it stands, the army is unlikely to ask for an extension of the deadline to complete the first phase by the end of the year. It may ask for a “technical” extension for a few weeks if necessary.

Salam refused to go into the details of the government’s next step after it receives the army’s detailed report on the disarmament south of the Litani.

“The military has succeeded in imposing complete state authority over the regions from south of the Litani to the southern border, except for the areas occupied by Israel and from where it should withdraw without delay,” the PM told Asharq Al-Awsat.

He confirmed that the government will convene at the beginning of the year to assess the first phase of the disarmament, stressing that Israel must take reciprocal steps, such as ceasing its violations of the ceasefire.

This will not prevent Lebanon from moving on to the second phase of implementing state monopoly over arms, he revealed.

Progress hinges of Hezbollah’s cooperation with Lebanon’s efforts to limit possession of weapons to the state and move towards activating state institutions in the South and kick off the reconstruction process with the help of Lebanon’s friends, he added.

“Imposing state monopoly over weapons is a Lebanese need before it is an international one,” he declared.

Everyone should be concerned with facilitating the process to end the cycle of violence, he urged.

Salam met on Saturday with Simon Karam, Lebanon's top civilian negotiator on the Mechanism committee overseeing the Hezbollah-Israel truce.

Karam briefed Salam on the latest meeting of the Mechanism.

Hezbollah continues to resist calls to disarm, saying the ceasefire with Israel does not cover areas north of the Litani. Party officials continue to tie disarmament to Israel’s withdrawal from regions it occupies in the South.

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.