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Turkish Parliament Approves Troop Observer Deployment to Karabakh

Armenians living in the Kalbajar district, which had been controlled by Armenian forces since the 1990s Nagorno-Karabakh war, set fire to their homes rather than hand them over to Azerbaijan. (AFP)
Armenians living in the Kalbajar district, which had been controlled by Armenian forces since the 1990s Nagorno-Karabakh war, set fire to their homes rather than hand them over to Azerbaijan. (AFP)
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Turkish Parliament Approves Troop Observer Deployment to Karabakh

Armenians living in the Kalbajar district, which had been controlled by Armenian forces since the 1990s Nagorno-Karabakh war, set fire to their homes rather than hand them over to Azerbaijan. (AFP)
Armenians living in the Kalbajar district, which had been controlled by Armenian forces since the 1990s Nagorno-Karabakh war, set fire to their homes rather than hand them over to Azerbaijan. (AFP)

Turkey's parliament on Tuesday approved the deployment of troops to join Russian forces at an observation post in Nagorno-Karabakh after Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a Russian-brokered ceasefire deal to end fighting over the enclave.

The mandate will allow Turkish troops to be stationed at the center for one year as part of an accord between Ankara and Moscow to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire, which locked in territorial gains by Azerbaijan. Some 2,000 Russian peacekeeping troops are now also deploying to the region.

In a letter to parliament asking for the mandate's approval, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the presence of Turkish troops and, "if needed, civilian personnel from our country, (will) be to the benefit of the peace and prosperity of the regional people, and necessary for our national interests".

The ceasefire signed on Nov. 10 halted military action in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but populated by ethnic Armenians, after the worst fighting in the region since the 1990s.

Turkey has accused Armenia of occupying Azeri lands and pledged solidarity with its ethnic Turkic kin in Azerbaijan.

Ankara has blamed the Minsk group - formed to mediate the conflict and led by Russia, France and the United States – of freezing the issue for nearly 30 years.

A Russian military delegation held talks in Turkey last week to discuss the parameters of the Turkish-Russian center. Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Tuesday Ankara and Moscow's cooperation would continue.

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World

Pakistan Arrests Senior Official from ISIS Offshoot

File photo: Police officers stand guard to secure a procession during the mourning month of Muharram in Karachi, Pakistan, 03 July 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER
File photo: Police officers stand guard to secure a procession during the mourning month of Muharram in Karachi, Pakistan, 03 July 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER
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Pakistan Arrests Senior Official from ISIS Offshoot

File photo: Police officers stand guard to secure a procession during the mourning month of Muharram in Karachi, Pakistan, 03 July 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER
File photo: Police officers stand guard to secure a procession during the mourning month of Muharram in Karachi, Pakistan, 03 July 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER

Pakistan has captured a leader from an offshoot of the ISIS extremist group, a senior intelligence official said Friday, after the arrest was reported by a UN sanctions monitoring group.

Sultan Aziz Azam, who also acted as a spokesman for ISIS Khorasan, (ISIS-K) was arrested on May 16, according to a UN committee's sanctions monitoring report submitted to the Security Council in November.

"He was not just a spokesman but regarded as one of the top leaders for the group in the region," the Pakistani intelligence official told AFP on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to media.

"The arrest was not made public as it could have affected counterterrorism operations" initiated after Azam's questioning, the official added.

ISIS-K, the local branch of the ISIS group, has claimed responsibility for some of the most horrific attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan and beyond in recent years, many targeting civilians.

In March 2024 its gunmen killed more than 140 people at a Moscow concert hall, and the group has carried out a series of deadly attacks in both Afghanistan and Pakistan since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

The intelligence official and the UN report did not specify which country Azam was captured in.

Taliban authorities have repeatedly said security is their top priority and vowed to crack down on ISIS-K and other militant groups operating in Afghanistan.

Pakistan has accused the Taliban of allowing Afghan soil to be used to harbor militants and the relationship between the two countries has deteriorated sharply with deadly border clashes in recent months.

Islamabad has carried out intensive border operations against militant groups, including airstrikes in October on Afghan territory that security sources say were aimed at targeting another group, the Pakistani Taliban.

The UN report said both countries' efforts were making a dent against ISIS-K.

"Overall, the capability of ISIS in Iraq and the Levant-K has been degraded as a result of counter-terrorism operations by the de facto authorities and Pakistan," said the UN report, referring to the Taliban's government which is not formally recognized by any country except Russia.

However, "the group remains resilient" and Afghan authorities have not completely eliminated its hideouts in the north and east, the report said, estimating that is has around 2,000 fighters.

Its leaders have also stepped up a recruitment drive "to establish a network of sleeper cells to further enhance their capabilities, as well as their ability to conduct attacks outside Afghan territory."

According to the Jamestown Foundation, a US-based think-tank, Azam hails from Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province which borders Pakistan and is considered an ISIS-K stronghold.

He is described as a poet and writer whose work often appeared on social media platforms such as Facebook before joining ISIS-K in 2015.

World

Russia's Dmitriev Welcomes EU Summit Decision Not to Use Russia's Frozen Assets

Archive- Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation. (Reuters)
Archive- Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation. (Reuters)
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Russia's Dmitriev Welcomes EU Summit Decision Not to Use Russia's Frozen Assets

Archive- Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation. (Reuters)
Archive- Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation. (Reuters)

Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, said on Friday ‌that "law and ‌sanity" ‌won, after ⁠European Union ‌leaders decided to borrow cash to fund Ukraine rather than use ⁠Russia's frozen assets.

"Major BLOW ‌to EU ‍warmongers ‍led by ‍failed Ursula — voices of reason in the EU BLOCKED the ILLEGAL use of ⁠Russian reserves to fund Ukraine," Dmitriev said on X, mentioning European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

World

UK Government Was Hacked in October, Minister Confirms

A pedestrian shelters from the rain while walking along the South Bank with the River Thames and the office buildings of the City Of London shrouded in fog on December 18, 2025. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)
A pedestrian shelters from the rain while walking along the South Bank with the River Thames and the office buildings of the City Of London shrouded in fog on December 18, 2025. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)
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UK Government Was Hacked in October, Minister Confirms

A pedestrian shelters from the rain while walking along the South Bank with the River Thames and the office buildings of the City Of London shrouded in fog on December 18, 2025. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)
A pedestrian shelters from the rain while walking along the South Bank with the River Thames and the office buildings of the City Of London shrouded in fog on December 18, 2025. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)

British trade minister Chris Bryant said the government had been hacked in October, partly confirming a report in the Sun newspaper, which said a Chinese group had breached systems to access foreign office data.

"There certainly has been a hack," Bryant ‌told Times ‌Radio on Friday, according to Reuters.

"I'm not ‌able ⁠to say ‌whether it is directly related to Chinese operatives, or indeed, the Chinese state," he added.

The Sun named Storm 1849 as the Chinese cyber gang responsible for the breach, ⁠which it said was understood to possibly ‌include tens of thousands ‍of visa ‍details.

The group has been accused ‍of targeting politicians and groups critical of the Chinese government, the newspaper said.

Bryant said that some of the reporting was speculation, and that the government was "on top of" ⁠the incident.

"We're fairly confident that there's a low risk of any individual actually being affected by this," he told Sky News.

A government spokesperson said that it had been working to investigate a cyber incident.

"We take the security of our systems and data ‌extremely seriously," the spokesperson said.