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Spain: Authorities Must Not Deport Asylum Seeker Who Fled Algeria

Demonstrators hold the flag during anti-government protests in Algiers, Algeria (Reuters)
Demonstrators hold the flag during anti-government protests in Algiers, Algeria (Reuters)
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Spain: Authorities Must Not Deport Asylum Seeker Who Fled Algeria

Demonstrators hold the flag during anti-government protests in Algiers, Algeria (Reuters)
Demonstrators hold the flag during anti-government protests in Algiers, Algeria (Reuters)

The Spanish government is under increasing pressure and appeals to cancel its decision to deport the former Algerian soldier, M.B., and hand him over to the national authorities.

M.B. is an Algerian citizen and a former military official who fled the country in September 2019, after he was accused of participating in acts of sabotage during the Hirak popular movement that ousted former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

On 7 January 2021, the Algerian judiciary sentenced the 32-year-old former soldier in absentia to ten years for “spreading false information.”

The Algerian public prosecutor also issued an international arrest warrant against him and requested his extradition from Spain, where he had applied for political asylum.

The Spanish authorities had arrested him in Zaragoza and charged him with “carrying out activities that threaten national security and would undermine relations with a friendly country." They also accused him of communicating with the Rashad movement.

The Algerian defendant lawyer says that a bleak and ambiguous future awaits his client if he is handed over to the Algerian authorities for sharing videos online that expose corruption within the military.

Amnesty International is leading the campaign to defend M.B. and demand his political asylum, saying the Spanish authorities are deeply aware of the grim fate if they deport him.

Spanish authorities extradited in the summer of 2021 another former military official and asylum-seeker who had sought refuge in Spain in November 2018 after publicly accusing the Algerian military of corruption.

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Arab World

Israeli Media Say Military Killed Senior Hamas Commander, Raed Saed, in Gaza Strike

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a car in Gaza City, December 13, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a car in Gaza City, December 13, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israeli Media Say Military Killed Senior Hamas Commander, Raed Saed, in Gaza Strike

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a car in Gaza City, December 13, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a car in Gaza City, December 13, 2025. (Reuters)

The Israeli military killed senior Hamas commander Raed Saed, one of the architects of the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, in a strike on a car in Gaza City on Saturday, several Israeli media outlets reported, citing sources.

The attack killed four people and wounded at least 25 others, according to Gaza health authorities. There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas or medics that Saed was among the dead.

The Israeli military said it had targeted a senior Hamas commander in Gaza City, without giving a name or details.

If Saed was killed, it would be the highest-profile assassination of a senior Hamas figure since a ceasefire deal came into effect in October.

An Israeli defense official said Saed had been targeted in the attack, describing him as the head of Hamas’ weapons manufacturing force.

Hamas sources have also described him as the second-in-command of the group’s armed wing, after Izz eldeen Al-Hadad.

Saed used to head Hamas’ Gaza City battalion, one of the group’s largest and best-equipped, those sources said.

The Israeli military said that earlier two soldiers were injured by an explosive device that “detonated during an operation to clear the area” of militant infrastructure. It was not immediately clear whether the two incidents were related.

The war in Gaza began after Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and seized 251 hostages in an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 70,700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, health officials in Gaza say.

The October 10 ceasefire has enabled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to Gaza City’s ruins. Israel has pulled troops back from city positions, and aid flows have increased.

But violence has not completely halted. Palestinian health authorities say Israeli forces have killed at least 386 people in strikes in Gaza since the truce. Israel says three of its soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire began, and it has attacked scores of fighters.

Arab World

Guterres Marks End of UN Mission in Iraq

This handout picture released by the office of Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani shows him shaking hands with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a meeting in Baghdad. (Handout / Iraqi Prime Minister’s Press Office/AFP)
This handout picture released by the office of Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani shows him shaking hands with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a meeting in Baghdad. (Handout / Iraqi Prime Minister’s Press Office/AFP)
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Guterres Marks End of UN Mission in Iraq

This handout picture released by the office of Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani shows him shaking hands with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a meeting in Baghdad. (Handout / Iraqi Prime Minister’s Press Office/AFP)
This handout picture released by the office of Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani shows him shaking hands with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a meeting in Baghdad. (Handout / Iraqi Prime Minister’s Press Office/AFP)

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Saturday marked in Baghdad the end of the United Nations' political mission in Iraq, which supported the country's transition following the US-led invasion.

At Baghdad's request, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) will shut down its operations after 22 years of assisting the country in its transition following the 2003 invasion and occupation that toppled longtime ruler Saddam Hussein.

"UNAMI was honored and humbled to walk side-by-side with the Iraqi people," Guterres said at the mission's closing ceremony.

But "while a mission may conclude, the United Nations will always walk alongside the people of Iraq on the path toward peace, sustainable development and human rights," he added.

UN agencies and programs will continue to operate in Iraq.

During a press conference earlier with Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Guterres said "there is one thing the world must understand, Iraq is now a normal country.

"Relations between the UN and Iraq will become normal relations with the end of UNAMI."

Sudani meanwhile said that the end of the UNAMI mandate "marks the beginning of a new chapter of cooperation".

"Our relationship with the United Nations through UNAMI was pivotal and effective in meeting Iraq's needs and supporting it until it reached the stage of full self-reliance," he added.

UNAMI was established by a UN Security Council resolution at the request of the Iraqi government before being expanded four years later.

Shortly after it was formed, a truck bomb struck the UN headquarters in Baghdad on August 19, 2003, killing the UN's first special representative in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, along with 21 others.

UNAMI's tasks included advising the government on political dialogue and reconciliation, as well as helping with elections and security sector reform.

But with Iraq regaining a sense of normalcy in recent years, authorities say there are no longer grounds for a UN political mission.

Arab World

Türkiye Says SDF Has No Option but to Integrate into Syrian Army

Turkish Land Forces Commander Metin Tokel and Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra meet in Damascus on December 11. (Turkish Defense Ministry)
Turkish Land Forces Commander Metin Tokel and Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra meet in Damascus on December 11. (Turkish Defense Ministry)
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Türkiye Says SDF Has No Option but to Integrate into Syrian Army

Turkish Land Forces Commander Metin Tokel and Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra meet in Damascus on December 11. (Turkish Defense Ministry)
Turkish Land Forces Commander Metin Tokel and Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra meet in Damascus on December 11. (Turkish Defense Ministry)

Türkiye said on Friday that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have no alternative but to implement a March 10 agreement requiring their integration into the Syrian army, accusing Israel of encouraging the group to stall the deal through its actions in Syria.

In a statement, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense said the SDF, whose backbone is the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), is acting in violation of the agreement signed in Damascus between Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi.

Ankara considers the YPG an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which it designates as a terrorist organization.

Ministry spokesperson Zeki Akturk said the SDF’s continued activities, instead of integration despite the March 10 accord, undermine stability and security in Syria. He stressed that SDF members must join the Syrian army as individuals, not as an autonomous bloc.

He accused unnamed countries of encouraging the SDF through actions and rhetoric, to reject integration and disarmament, calling such efforts futile attempts to buy time.

He also said Turkish forces have destroyed 732 kilometers of SDF tunnels in areas of operations across northern and northeastern Syria, including four kilometers in Manbij.

Separately, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan linked the SDF’s reluctance to implement the March 10 agreement to Israeli moves in Syria.

He said the SDF would reach an understanding with Damascus on integration the day Israel finds common ground with Syria, arguing that the SDF’s stance is not solely its own decision but influenced by Israel.

Fidan stressed that the agreement initially enjoyed support from Türkiye, the United States, and Syria, but that progress has stalled as the YPG/SDF refrains from taking required steps.

Expressing hope for a negotiated solution between Damascus and the SDF, Fidan said dialogue would reassure all communities, Arabs and Kurds alike. He warned that conflict would harm civilians and benefit no one, noting plans to unify armed factions under a single national army.

Meanwhile, Türkiye’s Defense Ministry announced a visit to Damascus by Land Forces Commander Metin Tokel, who met Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and Chief of Staff Ali Noureddine al-Naasan. Tokel also toured the joint Turkish-Syrian operations center.