Iran Sends Oil Shipment to Syria


Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
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Iran Sends Oil Shipment to Syria


Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo

Iran has reportedly sent an oil shipment to Syria where regime-held areas are suffering from a fuel crisis that has caused power outages and paralyzed public institutions.

Syria's Minister of Electricity Ghassan al-Zamil attributed the increase in electricity rationing to the shortage in power carriers whether gas or fuel.

Zamil noted that some projects will reenergize the electrical grid.

Regime-held areas have been recently witnessing shortages in oil derivatives.

A million barrels of Iranian crude oil is approaching the Suez Canal from the Red Sea, TankerTrackers reported on its Twitter account.

"It is part of a larger flotilla of tankers bound for Baniyas, Syria. We have visually identified all of them. The first one shall arrive in about three days’ time, all depending on congestion,” it added.

Further, local sources revealed that a clash erupted between the Iranian-affiliate Baqir Brigade and Al-Qaterji Group that is committed to protecting the oil carriers moving from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) regions to regime-run areas.

According to the Eye of the Euphrates‎, the Baqir Brigade prepared a military column in Aleppo of 300 members and 72 vehicles. The militias headed towards Kafr Ubayd and Tal Aran in the southern countryside of Aleppo.

Al-Qaterji Group was kicked out of the area, knowing that the militia evacuated its bases and enrolled with the 93th Brigade in Ain Issa in the northern countryside of Raqqa.



Zelensky Says Has Had Talks on Ukraine with US Envoys

This handout photograph taken on December 23, 2025 and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Office on December 24, 2025 shows Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting with journalists in Kyiv. (Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Office/ AFP)
This handout photograph taken on December 23, 2025 and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Office on December 24, 2025 shows Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting with journalists in Kyiv. (Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Office/ AFP)
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Zelensky Says Has Had Talks on Ukraine with US Envoys

This handout photograph taken on December 23, 2025 and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Office on December 24, 2025 shows Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting with journalists in Kyiv. (Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Office/ AFP)
This handout photograph taken on December 23, 2025 and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Office on December 24, 2025 shows Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting with journalists in Kyiv. (Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Office/ AFP)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday he had had "very good" talks with US President Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, focused on ending the "brutal Russian war".

"We discussed certain substantive details of the ongoing work," he said in a post on social media.

"There are good ideas that can work toward a shared outcome and the lasting peace," he added.

Zelensky thanked the two envoys for their "constructive approach, the intensive work, and the kind words."

"We are truly working 24/7 to bring closer the end of this brutal Russian war against Ukraine and to ensure that all documents and steps are realistic, effective, and reliable," he added.

They had also agreed during the conversation that Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov would speak with the two envoys again Thursday.

Zelensky's post came a day after having said that Ukraine had won some limited concessions in the latest version of a US-led draft plan to end the Russian invasion.

The 20-point plan, agreed on by US and Ukrainian negotiators, is being reviewed by Moscow. But the Kremlin has previously not shown a willingness to abandon its territorial demands for full Ukrainian withdrawal from the east.

Zelensky conceded on Wednesday that there were some points in the document that he did not like.

But he said Kyiv had succeeded in removing immediate requirements for Ukraine to withdraw from the Donetsk region or that land seized by Moscow's army would be recognized as Russian.


King Charles Calls for More Compassion in Christmas Speech

Britain's King Charles, along with members of the royal family, arrives to attend the Royal Family's Christmas Day service at St. Mary Magdalene's church, as the royals take residence at the Sandringham estate in eastern England, Britain, December 25, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKayg Rights
Britain's King Charles, along with members of the royal family, arrives to attend the Royal Family's Christmas Day service at St. Mary Magdalene's church, as the royals take residence at the Sandringham estate in eastern England, Britain, December 25, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKayg Rights
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King Charles Calls for More Compassion in Christmas Speech

Britain's King Charles, along with members of the royal family, arrives to attend the Royal Family's Christmas Day service at St. Mary Magdalene's church, as the royals take residence at the Sandringham estate in eastern England, Britain, December 25, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKayg Rights
Britain's King Charles, along with members of the royal family, arrives to attend the Royal Family's Christmas Day service at St. Mary Magdalene's church, as the royals take residence at the Sandringham estate in eastern England, Britain, December 25, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKayg Rights

Britain's King Charles III called for "compassion and reconciliation" at a time of "division" across the world in his annual Christmas Day message broadcast on Thursday.

The 77-year-old monarch said he found it "enormously encouraging" how people of different faiths had a "shared longing for peace".

In the year of the 80th anniversary of end of World War II, the king said the courage of servicemen and women and the way communities came together back then carried "a timeless message for us all".

"As we hear of division both at home and abroad, they are the values of which we must never lose sight," Charles said in a pre-recorded message from Westminster Abbey, broadcast on British television at 1500 GMT.

"With the great diversity of our communities, we can find the strength to ensure that right triumphs over wrong. It seems to me that we need to cherish the values of compassion and reconciliation the way our Lord lived and died."

In October, Charles became the first head of the Church of England to pray publicly with a pope since the schism with Rome 500 years ago, in a service led by Leo XIV at the Vatican.

A few days earlier Charles met survivors of a deadly attack on a synagogue and members of the Jewish community in the northern English city of Manchester.

This is the second time in succession that the king has made his festive address from outside a royal residence.

Last year he spoke from a former hospital chapel as he thanked medical staff for supporting the royal family in a year in which he announced his cancer diagnosis.


Israel Says Member of Elite Iran Unit Killed in Lebanon Strike

A Pakistani woman holds a national flag of Iran during a rally in solidarity with the Iranian people, in Karachi, Pakistan, 22 June 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER
A Pakistani woman holds a national flag of Iran during a rally in solidarity with the Iranian people, in Karachi, Pakistan, 22 June 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER
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Israel Says Member of Elite Iran Unit Killed in Lebanon Strike

A Pakistani woman holds a national flag of Iran during a rally in solidarity with the Iranian people, in Karachi, Pakistan, 22 June 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER
A Pakistani woman holds a national flag of Iran during a rally in solidarity with the Iranian people, in Karachi, Pakistan, 22 June 2025. EPA/SHAHZAIB AKBER

The Israeli military said on Thursday that its forces killed a member of ​Iran's Quds Force in Lebanon who had been involved in planning attacks from Syria and Lebanon.
The military identified the man as Hussein Mahmoud Marshad al-Jawhari, calling him a key operative in ‌the force's ‌unit 840.

He was ‌assassinated ⁠in ​the ‌area or Ansariyeh, the military added in a statement, without giving any further details of his death, Reuters reported.

Al-Jawhari "operated under the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and was involved in terror activities, ⁠directed by Iran, against the State of ‌Israel and its security ‍forces," the statement said.

Israel ‍and Iran fought a brief ‍war in June and the Israeli military has been carrying out strikes in Lebanon on a near-daily basis, in ​what it says is an effort to stop Iranian-backed Lebanese ⁠group Hezbollah from rebuilding.

A US-backed ceasefire agreed in November 2024 ended more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and required the disarmament of the powerful armed group, beginning in areas south of the river adjacent to Israel.