Tunisian Opposition Proposes National Dialogue without the President

Demonstrators carry flags during a protest against Tunisian President Kais Saied's seizure of governing powers in Tunis (Reuters)
Demonstrators carry flags during a protest against Tunisian President Kais Saied's seizure of governing powers in Tunis (Reuters)
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Tunisian Opposition Proposes National Dialogue without the President

Demonstrators carry flags during a protest against Tunisian President Kais Saied's seizure of governing powers in Tunis (Reuters)
Demonstrators carry flags during a protest against Tunisian President Kais Saied's seizure of governing powers in Tunis (Reuters)

Opposition parties in Tunisia have proposed to launch a national dialogue without President Kais Saied.

The secretary-general of the Republican Party, Issam Chebbi, told the German News Agency (dpa) that parties discussing the proposal will announce it during a press conference on Thursday.

The initiative is led by social democratic parties, including the Democratic Current, the Democratic Forum for Labor and Freedoms, and the Republican Party.

Chebbi warned that the country is on the verge of collapse, saying: "We believe that the dialogue we have been calling for in the past year is the best solution to get out of the crisis."

Saied, who last year announced extraordinary measures to suspend the parliament and boost his constitutional powers, has so far avoided this demand despite foreign pressure.

The president launched a national consultation through an electronic platform in preparation for a popular referendum on political reforms.

Opposition parties and organizations said that the consultation could not substitute national dialogue.

Chebbi explained that Saied categorically rejected the dialogue.

"We do not want the country to be dependent on the will of one person, nor for dialogue to depend on the president. We are in the process of coordinating our efforts, and we will determine the necessary steps for an inclusive dialogue."

Meanwhile, Tunisia Press Agency (TAP) said authorities suspend flights of the national carrier, Tunisair, between Tunisia and Burkina Faso until further notice.

Four security sources and a diplomat from West Africa said army officials had ousted Burkina Faso President Roch Kabore and detained him in an army camp after heavy gunfire around his house on Sunday evening in the capital Ouagadougou.

The military coup also suspended the country's constitution, dissolved the government, and closed the national borders.



Israeli Reservist Rams Vehicle into Palestinian Man Praying in West Bank

Israeli security forces secure a street as they leave the Palestinian village of Bizariya, in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli authorities demolished the house of a Palestinian man killed in July after he and another man reportedly killed an Israeli settler on the same day, on December 24, 2025. (AFP)
Israeli security forces secure a street as they leave the Palestinian village of Bizariya, in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli authorities demolished the house of a Palestinian man killed in July after he and another man reportedly killed an Israeli settler on the same day, on December 24, 2025. (AFP)
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Israeli Reservist Rams Vehicle into Palestinian Man Praying in West Bank

Israeli security forces secure a street as they leave the Palestinian village of Bizariya, in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli authorities demolished the house of a Palestinian man killed in July after he and another man reportedly killed an Israeli settler on the same day, on December 24, 2025. (AFP)
Israeli security forces secure a street as they leave the Palestinian village of Bizariya, in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli authorities demolished the house of a Palestinian man killed in July after he and another man reportedly killed an Israeli settler on the same day, on December 24, 2025. (AFP)

An Israeli reservist soldier rammed his vehicle into a Palestinian man as he prayed on a roadside in ​the occupied West Bank on Thursday, after earlier firing shots in the area, the Israeli military said.

"Footage was received of an armed individual running over a Palestinian individual," it said in a statement, adding the individual was a reservist ‌and his ‌military service had ‌been terminated.

The ⁠reservist ​acted "in severe ‌violation of his authority" and his weapon had been confiscated, the military said.

Israeli media reported that he was being held under house arrest.

The Israeli police did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The ⁠Palestinian man went to hospital for checks after ‌the attack, but was unhurt ‍and is now ‍at home.

Video which aired on Palestinian ‍TV shows a man in civilian clothing with a gun slung over his shoulder driving an off-road vehicle into a man praying on ​the side of the road.

This year ​was one of the most violent on ⁠record for Israeli civilian attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, according to United Nations data that shows more than 750 injuries.

More than a thousand Palestinians were killed in the West Bank between October 7, 2023 and October 17, 2025, mostly in operations by security forces and some by settler violence, according to the UN In ‌the same period, 57 Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks.


Deadly Blast Hits Mosque in Syria’s Homs

A Syrian flag waves in Damascus. (Getty Images/AFP)
A Syrian flag waves in Damascus. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Deadly Blast Hits Mosque in Syria’s Homs

A Syrian flag waves in Damascus. (Getty Images/AFP)
A Syrian flag waves in Damascus. (Getty Images/AFP)

A deadly explosion hit a mosque in Syria's Homs on Friday, said authorities who reported at least six people killed.

"A terrorist explosion targeted the Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque during Friday prayers in Al-Khadri Street in the Wadi al-Dahab neighborhood of Homs," the interior ministry said in a statement, adding that six people were killed and 21 others wounded.

Syria's state news agency SANA, which also reported the blast, said its cause and nature were being investigated.

According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights monitor, it was not immediately clear whether the blast "was caused by a suicide attack or an explosive device".

A local security source in Homs told AFP on condition of anonymity the explosion may have been caused by "an explosive device placed inside the mosque".

A resident of the area, requesting anonymity out of fear for his safety, told AFP people "heard a loud explosion, followed by chaos and panic in the neighborhood".

SANA published photos from inside the mosque, one of which showed a hole in a wall.

Black smoke covered part of the mosque, with carpets and books scattered nearby.


Fuel Shortage Forces Gaza Hospital to Suspend Most Services

The sun sets behind a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians set up in an area of al-Bureij camp, in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP)
The sun sets behind a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians set up in an area of al-Bureij camp, in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP)
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Fuel Shortage Forces Gaza Hospital to Suspend Most Services

The sun sets behind a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians set up in an area of al-Bureij camp, in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP)
The sun sets behind a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians set up in an area of al-Bureij camp, in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP)

A major Gaza hospital has suspended several services because of a critical fuel shortage in the devastated Palestinian territory, which continues to face a severe humanitarian crisis, it said.

Devastated by more than two years of war, the Al-Awda Hospital in the central Gaza district of Nuseirat cares for around 60 in-patients and receives nearly 1,000 people seeking medical treatment each day.

"Most services have been temporarily stopped due to a shortage of the fuel needed for the generators," said Ahmed Mehanna, a senior official involved in managing the hospital.

"Only essential departments remain operational: the emergency unit, maternity ward and pediatrics."

To keep these services running, the hospital has been forced to rent a small generator, he added.

Under normal conditions, Al-Awda Hospital consumes between 1,000 and 1,200 liters of diesel per day. At present, however, it has only 800 liters available.

"We stress that this shutdown is temporary and linked to the availability of fuel," Mehanna said, warning that a prolonged fuel shortage "would pose a direct threat to the hospital's ability to deliver basic services".

He urged local and international organizations to intervene swiftly to ensure a steady supply of fuel.

Despite a fragile truce observed since October 10, the Gaza Strip remains engulfed in a severe humanitarian crisis.

While the ceasefire agreement stipulated the entry of 600 aid trucks per day into Gaza, only 100 to 300 carrying humanitarian assistance can currently enter, according to the United Nations and non-governmental organizations.

The remaining convoys largely transport commercial goods that remain inaccessible to most of Gaza's 2.2 million people.

- Health hard hit -

On a daily basis, the vast majority of Gaza's residents rely on aid from UN agencies and international NGOs for survival.

Gaza's health sector has been among the hardest hit by the war.

During the fighting, the Israeli miliary repeatedly struck hospitals and medical centers across Gaza, accusing Hamas of operating command centers there, an allegation the group denied.

International medical charity Doctors Without Borders now manages roughly one-third of Gaza's 2,300 hospital beds, while all five stabilization centers for children suffering from severe malnutrition are supported by international NGOs.

The war in Gaza was sparked on October 7, 2023, following an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

In Israel's ensuing military campaign in Gaza, at least 70,942 people - also mostly civilians - have been killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.