Opposition Parties Reject Any Turkish Activity in Tunisia

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan meets with Tunisia's President Kais Saied in Tunis, Tunisia, December 25, 2019. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Turkish Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS
Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan meets with Tunisia's President Kais Saied in Tunis, Tunisia, December 25, 2019. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Turkish Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS
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Opposition Parties Reject Any Turkish Activity in Tunisia

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan meets with Tunisia's President Kais Saied in Tunis, Tunisia, December 25, 2019. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Turkish Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS
Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan meets with Tunisia's President Kais Saied in Tunis, Tunisia, December 25, 2019. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Turkish Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS

Six opposition parties announced their absolute rejection of any Turkish activity on Tunisian soil, urging authorities to avoid their vague approach towards Turkish actions in Tunisia that are aimed at supporting militias and terrorists.

The parties also demanded on authorities to take “a clear stance that rejects foreign military presence in the region.”

The leftist Workers’ Party, the Popular Front, the Socialist Party, Baath Movement, as well as the Tunisia Forward and al-Qutb party denounced any attempt “to involve Tunisia in the regional hubs' game at the expense of its national security as well as the Libyan people’s security and stability.”

Head of the Workers’ Party Hamma Hammami called on the President, Kais Saied, to take a clear stance on Turkey's military efforts in the region that pose major threat to regional peace and security.

He stressed that: “Turkey is indirectly participating by sending mercenaries from Syria to Libya and directly by providing aid to one of the parties to the conflict.”

Head of the opposition Project of Tunisia Movement Mohsen Marzouk, for his part, considered the presidency’s approval on the landing of a Turkish plane at one of Tunis's airports “a deviation in Tunisia’s position, which was supposed to be neutral in the Libyan conflict.”

He noted that the plane was loaded with medical equipment destined for a specific party in the Libyan internal conflict.

Marzouk said the presidency’s decision may raise doubts that Tunisia is involved in a specific international hub led by Turkey, which has been militarily involved in the Libyan conflict, “without any noticeable humanitarian action there.”

Turkey has been using Libyan sea and airports for a while now to transport weapons and terrorist elements to fight in Libya.



Syria State Media Says 3 Dead in Clashes in Latakia Province

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
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Syria State Media Says 3 Dead in Clashes in Latakia Province

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)

Syrian state media said three people were killed Wednesday in clashes with security forces in coastal Latakia province, the heartland of the country's Alawite minority community.

"Three members of remnants of the former regime were killed after clashes with internal security forces" outside the city of Jableh, state television said.

State news agency SANA had earlier reported "clashes with a group of wanted outlaws" in the area, and said an unspecified number of security personnel were wounded.

Since last December's ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, himself an Alawite, Syria's new authorities have frequently reported security operations against remnants of his government.

Syria's coastal areas saw the killing of Alawite civilians in March, with authorities accusing armed Assad supporters of sparking the violence by attacking security forces.

A national commission of inquiry said at least 1,426 members of the minority community were killed at the time.

Last month, thousands of people demonstrated on the Alawite coast in protest of fresh attacks targeting their community.


Israel Demolishes Home of Palestinian Accused of Attack

A picture taken on September 30, 2025 shows the demolished house of Yahya Abu Ghaliyeh, a Palestinian from a Bedouin village near the town of Al-Eizariya, also known as Bethany, east of Jerusalem. (AFP)
A picture taken on September 30, 2025 shows the demolished house of Yahya Abu Ghaliyeh, a Palestinian from a Bedouin village near the town of Al-Eizariya, also known as Bethany, east of Jerusalem. (AFP)
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Israel Demolishes Home of Palestinian Accused of Attack

A picture taken on September 30, 2025 shows the demolished house of Yahya Abu Ghaliyeh, a Palestinian from a Bedouin village near the town of Al-Eizariya, also known as Bethany, east of Jerusalem. (AFP)
A picture taken on September 30, 2025 shows the demolished house of Yahya Abu Ghaliyeh, a Palestinian from a Bedouin village near the town of Al-Eizariya, also known as Bethany, east of Jerusalem. (AFP)

The Israeli army demolished on Wednesday the home of a Palestinian accused of carrying out a stabbing and shooting attack that killed an Israeli earlier this year, the military said, AFP reported.

On July 10, two attackers killed 22-year-old Shalev Zvuluny in a shopping area near Jerusalem, before the Israeli army shot them dead.

On Wednesday, Israeli army bulldozers entered the village of Bazzaryah in the occupied West Bank, destroying the family home of one of the attackers after it had been evacuated.

Israeli forces "demolished the home of the terrorist who carried out the shooting and stabbing attack at the Gush junction, during which Shalev Zvuluny... was murdered", the army said in a statement.

Hazem Yassine, head of the Bazzaryah municipal council, denounced what he called a "heinous crime".

He told AFP that Israeli forces had sealed off the village's entrances since dawn in preparation for the demolition.

"Schools were closed as a precaution," he said, adding that the assailant's family had moved out around a month ago after being notified of the decision to demolish the house.

An AFP photographer saw children climbing on piles of rubble after the demolition, waving the Palestinian flag.

Israel, whose army has occupied the West Bank since 1967, regularly demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly attacks against Israelis.

The government defends the deterrent effect of these demolitions, but critics denounce the practice as a form of collective punishment that leaves families homeless.

Violence in the West Bank surged during the war in Gaza, which erupted on October 7, 2023 with Hamas's attack on Israel.

Since then, Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed more than a thousand Palestinians in the West Bank, many of them militants but also including civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian Authority data.

At the same time, according to official Israeli figures, at least 44 Israelis, including civilians and soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military raids in the area.


Israel Accuses Hamas of Violating Gaza Truce, Says It Will Respond

A woman sits next to her tent on an alley of a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A woman sits next to her tent on an alley of a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Israel Accuses Hamas of Violating Gaza Truce, Says It Will Respond

A woman sits next to her tent on an alley of a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A woman sits next to her tent on an alley of a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas on Wednesday of violating the Gaza ceasefire by refusing to disarm, and said Israel would retaliate after a military officer was wounded by what the military described as a bomb. 

In a speech at a graduation ceremony for Air Force pilots, Netanyahu mentioned the attack in Rafah, part of Gaza where Israeli forces still operate, and said Hamas had made clear it had no plan to disarm as foreseen under the October truce deal. 

"Israel will respond accordingly," he said. 

The Israeli military earlier said that an explosive device had detonated against a military vehicle in the Rafah area ‌and that one ‌officer had been lightly injured. 

Hamas denied responsibility. ‌The ⁠blast was "caused ‌by bombs left behind by the enemy that had not exploded previously, and we have informed the mediators of this," said Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawi in an X post. 

A 20-point plan issued by US President Donald Trump in September calls for an initial truce followed by steps towards a wider peace. So far, only the first phase has taken effect, including a ceasefire, release of ⁠hostages and prisoners, and partial Israeli withdrawal. 

Trump's plan ultimately calls for Hamas to disarm and have ‌no governing role in Gaza, and for ‍Israel to pull out. Hamas has said ‍it will hand over arms only once a Palestinian state is ‍established, which Israel says it will never allow. 

Violence has subsided but not stopped since the Gaza truce took effect on October 10, with the sides regularly accusing each other of violating the ceasefire.  

Gaza's health ministry says Israel has killed more than 400 people in the territory since the ceasefire went into effect. Three Israeli soldiers have been killed in militant ⁠attacks. 

Hamas "openly declares it has no intention of disarming, in complete contradiction to President Trump's 20-point plan," Netanyahu said. 

He added that Hezbollah in Lebanon, which Israel severely weakened in strikes last year that also ended in a US-brokered truce, also had no intention to disarm "and we are addressing that as well".  

Israel still needs to settle accounts with Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen as well as Iran itself, he added. 

"As these old threats change form, new threats arise morning and evening. We do not seek confrontations, but our eyes are open to every possible danger," Netanyahu said. 

Netanyahu is set to meet with ‌Trump next week, mainly to discuss the next phase of Trump's Gaza plan.