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Trump, Netanyahu Hold Talks as US President Warns ‘No Guarantees’ Peace in Gaza Will Hold 

This combination of pictures created on November 07, 2024 shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) attends a meeting with US President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 25, 2024, and former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (R) attends a town hall meeting moderated by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on September 17, 2024. (AFP)
This combination of pictures created on November 07, 2024 shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) attends a meeting with US President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 25, 2024, and former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (R) attends a town hall meeting moderated by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on September 17, 2024. (AFP)
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Trump, Netanyahu Hold Talks as US President Warns ‘No Guarantees’ Peace in Gaza Will Hold 

This combination of pictures created on November 07, 2024 shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) attends a meeting with US President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 25, 2024, and former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (R) attends a town hall meeting moderated by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on September 17, 2024. (AFP)
This combination of pictures created on November 07, 2024 shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) attends a meeting with US President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 25, 2024, and former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (R) attends a town hall meeting moderated by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on September 17, 2024. (AFP)

President Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are set to meet Tuesday as the Israeli prime minister faces competing pressure from his right-wing coalition to end a temporary truce against Hamas in Gaza and from war-weary Israelis who want the remaining hostages home and the 15-month conflict to end.

Trump is guarded about the long-term prospects for the truce, even as he takes credit for pressuring Hamas and Israel into the hostage and ceasefire agreement that went into effect the day before he returned to office last month.

"I have no guarantees that the peace is going to hold," Trump told reporters Monday.

The leaders' talks are expected to touch on concerns about Iran's nuclear program, but hammering out the second phase of the hostage deal will be at the top of the agenda.

Netanyahu's arrival in Washington for the first foreign leader visit of Trump's second term comes as the prime minister's popular support is lagging. Netanyahu is in the middle of weekslong testimony in an ongoing corruption trial that centers on allegations he exchanged favors with media moguls and wealthy associates. He has decried the accusations and said he is the victim of a "witch hunt."

Being seen with Trump, who is popular in Israel, could help distract the public from the trial and boost Netanyahu’s standing.

It's Netanyahu's first travel outside Israel since the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for him, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza. The US does not recognize the ICC's authority over its citizens or territory.

Netanyahu and Trump's Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff on Monday began the daunting work of brokering the next phase of a ceasefire agreement.

But Netanyahu is under intense pressure from hard-right members of his governing coalition to abandon the ceasefire and resume fighting in Gaza to eliminate Hamas. Bezalel Smotrich, one of Netanyahu’s key partners, vows to topple the government if the war isn’t relaunched, a step that could lead to early elections.

Hamas, which has reasserted control over Gaza since the ceasefire began last month, has said it will not release hostages in the second phase without an end to the war and Israeli forces’ full withdrawal. Netanyahu, meanwhile, maintains that Israel is committed to victory over Hamas and the return of all hostages captured in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war.

Mira Resnick, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for Israeli and Palestinian affairs, said Trump may "have little patience for political woes of Netanyahu if it gets in the way of the broader goals of this administration."

"The president started his term by saying that he wanted the ceasefire to be in place by Jan. 20. That's what he got," Resnick said. "He is invested in this because he was able to take credit for it."

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is among the hostages, called on Trump to use American leverage to keep Netanyahu committed to the agreement.

Matan, 24, is among those who are expected to be included in the second phase of the deal, when all remaining living hostages — including men under the age of 50 and male soldiers — are to be exchanged for a yet-to-be-determined number of Palestinian prisoners. The second phase is also expected to include the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

"I want President Trump to know there are certain extreme elements from within Israel who are trying to torpedo his vision," said Zangauker, who traveled to Washington from Israel to join a planned Tuesday rally outside the White House. "We are representative of the vast, vast majority of Israel. The ultra-extremists are blackmailing the prime minister to do their bidding."

Since returning to office, Trump has called for relocating Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring Egypt and Jordan, even as Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordanian King Abdullah II have rejected it. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League have joined Egypt and Jordan in rejecting plans to move Palestinians out of their territories in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Hard-line right-wing members of Netanyahu's government have embraced the call to move displaced Palestinians out of Gaza.

Netanyahu on Monday met with Trump’s pick to serve as ambassador to Israel, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and evangelical leaders. Huckabee has long rejected a Palestinian state in territory previously seized by Israel.

The prime minister is also expected to press Trump to take decisive action on Iran. Tehran has faced a series of military setbacks, including Israeli forces significantly degrading Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon as well as an operation that decimated Iran's air defenses. The moment, Netanyahu believes, has created a window to decisively address Tehran's nuclear program.

"This is one of the most important and critical meetings between an American president and an Israeli prime minister," said Eytan Gilboa, an expert on US-Israel relations at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv. "What’s at stake here is not just bilateral relations between Israel and the United States but the reshaping of the Middle East."

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Arab World

Lebanese Say Israel Preventing Post-war Reconstruction

Israel says it is striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon to prevent the group from rebuilding its strength in breach of a ceasefire, but local people complain it is destroying civilian reconstruction efforts (AFP/MAHHMOUD ZAYYAT)
Israel says it is striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon to prevent the group from rebuilding its strength in breach of a ceasefire, but local people complain it is destroying civilian reconstruction efforts (AFP/MAHHMOUD ZAYYAT)
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Lebanese Say Israel Preventing Post-war Reconstruction

Israel says it is striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon to prevent the group from rebuilding its strength in breach of a ceasefire, but local people complain it is destroying civilian reconstruction efforts (AFP/MAHHMOUD ZAYYAT)
Israel says it is striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon to prevent the group from rebuilding its strength in breach of a ceasefire, but local people complain it is destroying civilian reconstruction efforts (AFP/MAHHMOUD ZAYYAT)

When engineer Tarek Mazraani started campaigning for the reconstruction of war-battered southern Lebanon, Israeli drones hovered ominously overhead -- their loudspeakers sometimes calling him out by name.

Despite a ceasefire struck last November aiming to put an end to more than a year of fighting with Hezbollah, Israel has kept up near-daily strikes on Lebanon.

In addition to hitting alleged militants, it has recently also targeted bulldozers, excavators and prefabricated houses, often saying they were part of efforts to restore Hezbollah infrastructure.

The bombing has prevented tens of thousands of people from returning to their homes, and has made rebuilding heavily-damaged border villages -- like Mazraani's Hula -- almost impossible.
"For us, the war has not ended," Mazraani, 61, told AFP.

"We can't return to our villages, rebuild or even check on our homes."

In cash-strapped Lebanon, authorities have yet to begin reconstruction efforts, and have been hoping for international support.
They have also blamed Israeli strikes for preventing efforts to rebuild, which the World Bank estimates could cost $11 billion.

Eager to go back home, Mazraani established the "Association of the Residents of Border Villages" to call for the return of displaced people and the start of reconstruction.

He even started making plans to rebuild homes he had previously designed.

But in October, Israeli drones flew over southern villages, broadcasting a message through loudspeakers.

They called out Mazraani by name and urged residents to expel him, implicitly accusing him of having ties with Hezbollah, which he denies.

Asked by AFP, the Israeli army would not say on what basis they accuse Mazraani of working with Hezbollah.

"They are bombing prefabricated houses, and not allowing anyone to get close to the border," said Mazraani, who has moved to Beirut for fear of Israel's threats.

"They are saying: no reconstruction before handing over the weapons," he added, referring to Israel's demand that Hezbollah disarm.

Amnesty International has estimated that "more than 10,000 structures were heavily damaged or destroyed" between October of last year -- when Israel launched a ground offensive into southern Lebanon -- and late January.

It noted that much of the destruction followed the November 2024 truce that took effect after two months of open war.

Just last month, Israeli strikes destroyed more than 300 bulldozers and excavators in yards in the Msaileh area, one of which belonged to Ahmed Tabaja, 65.

Surrounded by burned-out machinery, his hands stained black, Tabaja said he hoped to repair just five of his 120 vehicles destroyed in the strikes -- a devastating loss amounting to five million dollars.

"Everyone knows there is nothing military here," he insisted.

The yards, located near the highway, are open and visible. "There is nothing to hide," he said.

In a nearby town, Hussein Kiniar, 32, said he couldn't believe his eyes as he surveyed the heavy machinery garage his father built 30 years ago.

He said Israel struck the family's yard twice: first during the war, and again in September after it was repaired. The first strike cost five million dollars, and the second added another seven million in losses, he estimated.

"I watched everything burn right before my eyes," Kiniar said.

The Israeli army said that day it had targeted "a Hezbollah site in the Ansariyah area of southern Lebanon, which stored engineering vehicles intended to rebuild the terrorist organization's capabilities and support its terrorist activity."

Kiniar denied that he or the site were linked to Hezbollah. "We are a civilian business," he said.

In October, Israel killed two engineers working for a company sanctioned by the United States over alleged Hezbollah ties.

Under US pressure and fearing an escalation in strikes, the Lebanese government has moved to begin disarming Hezbollah, a plan the movement and its allies oppose.

But Israel accuses Beirut of acting too slowly and, despite the stipulation in the ceasefire that it withdraw, it maintains troops in five areas in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, insists Israel pull back, stop its attacks and allow reconstruction to begin before it can discuss the fate of its weapons.

In the aftermath of the 2006 war with Israel, Hezbollah spearheaded rebuilding in the south, with much of the effort financed by Iran.

But this time, the group's financial dealings have been under heightened scrutiny.

It has insisted the state should fund post-war reconstruction, and it has only paid compensation for its own associates' rent and repairs.

For three long seasons, olive grower Mohammed Rizk, 69, hasn't been able to cultivate his land.

He now lives with his son just outside the city of Nabatiyeh, having been forced out of his border village where his once-vibrant grove lies neglected.

"The war hasn't ended," he said. "It will only be over when we return home."

Arab World

Iraq's Sudani Secures 'Major Victory' in General Election: Sources Close to PM

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani holds a ballot paper to cast his vote in the parliamentary elections at a polling station in Baghdad, Iraq, 11 November 2025. EPA/CEERWAN AZIZ
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani holds a ballot paper to cast his vote in the parliamentary elections at a polling station in Baghdad, Iraq, 11 November 2025. EPA/CEERWAN AZIZ
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Iraq's Sudani Secures 'Major Victory' in General Election: Sources Close to PM

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani holds a ballot paper to cast his vote in the parliamentary elections at a polling station in Baghdad, Iraq, 11 November 2025. EPA/CEERWAN AZIZ
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani holds a ballot paper to cast his vote in the parliamentary elections at a polling station in Baghdad, Iraq, 11 November 2025. EPA/CEERWAN AZIZ

The list backing incumbent Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has scored a big win in parliament after elections, sources close to his alliance told AFP on Wednesday.

Sudani's "Reconstruction and Development list has secured a major victory" following the vote on Tuesday, an official close to the premier told AFP.

Another two sources said the premier's alliance has "won the largest bloc,” with approximately 50 seats.

Iraq's electoral commission is expected to announce preliminary results later this evening.

Iraqis cast their ballots on Tuesday, with a high turnout of more than 55 percent, a sharp jump from the record low of 41 percent in 2021.

Arab World

Syria’s Sharaa: Trump Backs our Position on Israel’s Withdrawal to Pre-Dec. 8 Borders

This handout photograph released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on November 10, 2025, shows Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington DC. (Handout/SANA/AFP)
This handout photograph released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on November 10, 2025, shows Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington DC. (Handout/SANA/AFP)
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Syria’s Sharaa: Trump Backs our Position on Israel’s Withdrawal to Pre-Dec. 8 Borders

This handout photograph released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on November 10, 2025, shows Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington DC. (Handout/SANA/AFP)
This handout photograph released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on November 10, 2025, shows Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington DC. (Handout/SANA/AFP)

Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Monday he will preserve the right of the Syrian people to see ousted President Bashar al-Assad brought to justice.

Sharaa told the Washington Post that US President Donald Trump supports Syria’s position on the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Syrian territories it occupied after December 8, the date of the regime’s ouster.

Sharaa held a historic meeting with Trump at the White House on Monday, the first by a Syrian president since the country gained its independence in 1946.

Asked about Israel’s repeated attacks against Syria, he said: “Syria got into war with Israel 50 years ago. Then, in 1974, there was a disengagement agreement. This agreement lasted for 50 years, but when the regime fell, Israel revoked this agreement. They expanded their presence in Syria, expelled the UN peacekeeping mission and occupied new territory.”

“They have conducted over 1,000 airstrikes in Syria since December 8, and that included bombing the Presidential Palace and the Ministry of Defense. But because we want to rebuild Syria, we didn’t respond to these aggressions,” he added.

“The advances that Israel made into Syria are not coming from their security concerns, but from their expansionist ambitions,” Sharaa warned.

“Israel has always claimed that it has concerns about Syria because it is afraid of the threats that the Iranian militias and Lebanon’s Hezbollah represent. We are the ones who expelled those forces out of Syria,” he stressed.

He further continued: “We are engaged in direct negotiations with Israel, and we have gone a good distance on the way to reach an agreement. But to reach a final agreement, Israel should withdraw to their pre-December 8 borders.”

“The United States is with us in these negotiations, and so many international parties support our perspective in this regard. Today, we found that Trump supports our perspective as well, and he will push as quickly as possible in order to reach a solution for this,” he revealed.

Asked if Syria would agree to demilitarize the region south of Damascus, he replied: “To talk about an entire region demilitarized, it will be difficult, because if there is any kind of chaos, who will protect it? If this demilitarized zone was used by some parties as a launching pad for hitting Israel, who is going to be responsible for that?”

“And at the end of the day, this is Syrian territory, and Syria should have the freedom of dealing with their own territory,” Sharaa added.

“Israel occupied the Golan Heights in order to protect Israel, and now they are imposing conditions in the south of Syria in order to protect the Golan Heights. So, after a few years, maybe they will occupy the center of Syria in order to protect the south of Syria. They will reach Munich on that pathway,” he said.

Russia and Assad

Noting that Assad is in Moscow being essentially protected by the government of Vladimir Putin, Sharaa was asked if he had raised the issue with the Russians, to which he replied: “We were in war against Russia for 10 years, and it was a hard, difficult war. They announced that they killed me several times.”

However, “we need Russia because it’s a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. We need their vote to be on our side in some issues, and we have strategic interests with them. We don’t want to push Russia to take alternative or other options in dealing with Syria,” he explained.

“The issue of Bashar al-Assad is troublesome for Russia, and our relationship with them... we’re still in the beginning. We will preserve our rights as Syrians to call for bringing Assad to justice,” he declared.

Common interests with US

On his landmark visit to the White House, he said: “The most important objective is starting on - building the relationship between Syria and the US, because in the past 100 years, it wasn’t a very good relationship.”

“We were looking for common interest between the US and Syria, and we found that we have a lot of common interests that we can build on, such as security interests and economic interests. The stability of Syria will impact the entire region, and the instability of Syria, as well, will impact the region,” he went on to say.

“Stability is linked with the economy, and the economy, or economic development, is linked with the lifting of sanctions. This discussion has been going on for months now, and I believe that we reached good results. But we are still waiting for the final decision,” he remarked.

ISIS fight

On his past as a fighter in Iraq and Syria, Sharaa said: “Fighting is not something shameful if it is done for noble objectives, especially if you are defending your own land and the people who are suffering from injustice. I believe this is something good that people should be commended for. I have fought so many wars, but I have never caused the death of an innocent person.”

“When somebody engages in fighting, they should have a very strong ethical background. The region was affected by the policies - western policies and US policies - and today, we have so many Americans who agree with us that some of these policies were a mistake and that they caused so many wars that were pointless,” he stressed.

On the fight against ISIS, Sharaa said: “We were in a war with the group for 10 years, and we did that without coordination with a Western force or any other country. Syria today is capable of shouldering this responsibility. Keeping Syria divided or having any military force that is not under control of the government, represents the best environment for ISIS to flourish.”

“The best solution is that the US troops present in Syria should supervise the integration of the Syrian Democratic Forces into the central government’s security forces. The task of protecting Syrian territory will be the responsibility of the state,” he explained.