Israel Destroyed 90 Percent of Iranian Capacities in Syrian Territories

Smoke rises from a fire in a container storage area, after Syrian state media reported an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian port of Latakia, Syria, in this handout picture released by SANA on December 7, 2021. (SANA/Handout via Reuters)
Smoke rises from a fire in a container storage area, after Syrian state media reported an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian port of Latakia, Syria, in this handout picture released by SANA on December 7, 2021. (SANA/Handout via Reuters)
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Israel Destroyed 90 Percent of Iranian Capacities in Syrian Territories

Smoke rises from a fire in a container storage area, after Syrian state media reported an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian port of Latakia, Syria, in this handout picture released by SANA on December 7, 2021. (SANA/Handout via Reuters)
Smoke rises from a fire in a container storage area, after Syrian state media reported an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian port of Latakia, Syria, in this handout picture released by SANA on December 7, 2021. (SANA/Handout via Reuters)

The Israeli military has destroyed about 90 percent of Iran's military infrastructure and attempts to entrench itself with Hezbollah and other pro-Iranian militias in Syria, three officials in the Israeli army said.

According to the officials, Israel has in recent years succeeded in almost completely curbing Iran's ability to transfer weapons to Syria, to manufacture weapons on the country's soil and to establish a base in it with pro-Iranian forces.

There have been talks on Wednesday about Israel halting raids in Syria in the past months out of fear of a Russian response.

However, last Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said an Israeli airstrike near Damascus destroyed an Iranian-backed drone manufacturing and weapons storage site.

According to the sources, the plan of the former commander of the Iranian Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by the Americans in 2020, has failed due to the Israeli army’s continued air campaign against the forces in Syria.

The security officials emphasized that the army severely damaged Iran's smuggling routes from the sea, air and even from the land from Iran to Syria.

As a result of the attacks, the ability of the Syrian army to produce weapons and ammunition has also been damaged since the Iranians and Hezbollah used the same factories for the production of their weapons.

The focus of the attacks in recent years has also been to stop the smuggling of components for CERS – the Centre D’Etudes et de Recherches Scientifiques (CERS) in Masyaf that is used by Iran to produce advanced missiles and weapons for its proxies.

According to sources in Israel, Syrian President Bashar Assad has realized that in the coming years he will not be able to regain territories occupied by the Kurds, including the Turks, and instead is focused on reducing the activity of Iran and Hezbollah in his country, with an emphasis on the Syrian Golan Heights.



Member of Iranian Security Forces Reportedly Killed During Protests

An Iranian woman walks with her shopping bag in a street in Tehran, Iran, 31 December 2025. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
An Iranian woman walks with her shopping bag in a street in Tehran, Iran, 31 December 2025. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
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Member of Iranian Security Forces Reportedly Killed During Protests

An Iranian woman walks with her shopping bag in a street in Tehran, Iran, 31 December 2025. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
An Iranian woman walks with her shopping bag in a street in Tehran, Iran, 31 December 2025. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH

A member of Iran's security forces was killed during protests that have swept across the country since last week, state television reported on Thursday citing a regional official, marking the first fatality among security forces during the protests.

"A 21-year-old member of the Basij from the city of Kouhdasht was killed last night (Wednesday) by rioters while defending public order," the channel said, citing Said Pourali, the deputy governor of Lorestan Province.

Another 13 Basij members and police officers suffered injuries, he added.

“The protests that have occurred are due to economic pressures, inflation and currency fluctuations, and are an expression of livelihood concerns," Pourali said. "The voices of citizens must be heard carefully and tactfully, but people must not allow their demands to be strained by profit-seeking individuals.”

The protests took place in the city of Kouhdasht, over 400 kilometers southwest of Tehran.

Iran's government under President Masoud Pezeshkian has been trying to signal it wants to negotiate with protesters. However, Pezeshkian has acknowledged there is not much he can do as Iran's rial currency has rapidly depreciated, with $1 now costing some 1.4 million rials.

Meanwhile, state television separately reported on the arrests of seven people, including five it described as monarchists and two others it said had linked to European-based groups. State TV also said another operation saw security forces confiscate 100 smuggled pistols, without elaborating.

The protests have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations.


Near Record Number of Small Boat Migrants Reach UK in 2025

(FILES) Migrants picked up at sea attempting to cross the English Channel from France, disembark from Border Force vessel 'Ranger' after it arrived at the Marina in Dover, south-east England, on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP)
(FILES) Migrants picked up at sea attempting to cross the English Channel from France, disembark from Border Force vessel 'Ranger' after it arrived at the Marina in Dover, south-east England, on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP)
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Near Record Number of Small Boat Migrants Reach UK in 2025

(FILES) Migrants picked up at sea attempting to cross the English Channel from France, disembark from Border Force vessel 'Ranger' after it arrived at the Marina in Dover, south-east England, on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP)
(FILES) Migrants picked up at sea attempting to cross the English Channel from France, disembark from Border Force vessel 'Ranger' after it arrived at the Marina in Dover, south-east England, on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP)

The second-highest annual number of migrants arrived on UK shores in small boats since records were started in 2018, the government was to confirm Thursday.

The tally comes as Brexit firebrand Nigel Farage's anti-immigration party Reform UK surges in popularity ahead of bellwether local elections in May.

With Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer increasingly under pressure over the thorny issue, his interior minister Shabana Mahmood has proposed a drastic reduction in protections for refugees and the ending of automatic benefits for asylum seekers.

Home Office data as of midday on Wednesday showed a total of 41,472 migrants landed on England's southern coast in 2025 after making the perilous Channel crossing from northern France.

The record of 45,774 arrivals was recorded in 2022 under the last Conservative government, AFP reported.

The Home Office is due to confirm the final figure for 2025 later Thursday.
Former Tory prime minister Rishi Sunak vowed to "stop the boats" when he was in power.

Ousted by Starmer in July 2024, he later said he regretted the slogan because it was too "stark" and "binary" and lacked sufficient context "for exactly how challenging" the goal was.

Adopting his own "smash the gangs" slogan, Starmer pledged to tackle the problem by dismantling the people smuggling networks running the crossings but has so far had no more success than his predecessor.

Reform has led Starmer's Labour Party by double-digit margins in opinion polls for most of 2025.

In a New Year message, Farage predicted that if Reform got things "right" at the forthcoming local elections "we will go on and win the general election" due in 2029 at the latest.

Without addressing the migrant issue directly, he added: "We will then absolutely have a chance of fundamentally changing the whole system of government in Britain."

In his own New Year message, Starmer insisted his government would "defeat the decline and division offered by others".

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, meanwhile, urged people not to let "politics of grievance tell you that we're destined to stay the same".

- Protests -

The small boat figures come after Home Secretary Mahmood in November said irregular migration was "tearing our country apart".

In early December, an interior ministry spokesperson called the number of small boat crossings "shameful" and said Mahmood's "sweeping reforms" would remove the incentives driving the arrivals.

A returns deal with France had so far resulted in 153 people being removed from the UK to France and 134 being brought to the UK from France, border security and asylum minister Alex Norris said.

"Our landmark one-in one-out scheme means we can now send those who arrive on small boats back to France," he said.

The past year has seen multiple protests in UK towns over the housing of migrants in hotels.

Amid growing anti-immigrant sentiment, in September up to 150,000 massed in central London for one of the largest-ever far-right protests in Britain, organized by activist Tommy Robinson.

Asylum claims in Britain are at a record high, with around 111,000 applications made in the year to June 2025, according to official figures as of mid-November.

Labour is currently taking inspiration from Denmark's coalition government -- led by the center-left Social Democrats -- which has implemented some of the strictest migration policies in Europe.

Senior British officials recently visited the Scandinavian country, where successful asylum claims are at a 40-year low.

But the government's plans will likely face opposition from Labour's more left-wing lawmakers, fearing that the party is losing voters to progressive alternatives such as the Greens.


Russia Releases Video Footage to Challenge Kyiv Over Alleged Attack

A Russian service member stands next to the remains of a drone, which, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, was downed during the repelling of an alleged Ukrainian attack on the Russian presidential residence in the Novgorod Region, in an unknown location in Russia, in this still image from a video released December 31, 2025. (Russian Defense Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
A Russian service member stands next to the remains of a drone, which, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, was downed during the repelling of an alleged Ukrainian attack on the Russian presidential residence in the Novgorod Region, in an unknown location in Russia, in this still image from a video released December 31, 2025. (Russian Defense Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
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Russia Releases Video Footage to Challenge Kyiv Over Alleged Attack

A Russian service member stands next to the remains of a drone, which, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, was downed during the repelling of an alleged Ukrainian attack on the Russian presidential residence in the Novgorod Region, in an unknown location in Russia, in this still image from a video released December 31, 2025. (Russian Defense Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
A Russian service member stands next to the remains of a drone, which, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, was downed during the repelling of an alleged Ukrainian attack on the Russian presidential residence in the Novgorod Region, in an unknown location in Russia, in this still image from a video released December 31, 2025. (Russian Defense Ministry/Handout via Reuters)

Russia's defense ministry released video footage on Wednesday of what it said was a downed drone at a briefing intended to show Ukraine tried this week to attack a presidential residence and challenge Kyiv's denials that such an attack took place. 

Kyiv says Moscow has produced no evidence to support its allegations and that Russia invented the alleged attack to block progress at talks on ‌ending the war ‌in Ukraine. Officials in several ‌Western ⁠countries have ‌cast doubt on Russia's version of events and questioned whether there was any attack. 

Video footage released by Russia's defense ministry showed a senior officer, Major-General Alexander Romanenkov, setting out details of how Moscow says it believes Ukraine attacked one of President Vladimir Putin's residences in ⁠the Novgorod region. 

Romanenkov said 91 drones had been launched from Ukraine's Sumy ‌and Chernihiv regions in a "thoroughly ‍planned" attack that he said ‍was thwarted by Russian air defenses, caused ‍no damage and injured no one. 

The video released by the ministry included footage of a Russian serviceman standing next to fragments of a device which he said was a downed Ukrainian Chaklun-V drone carrying a 6-kg explosive device which had not detonated. 

The ministry did ⁠not explain how it knew what the device's target was. 

Speaking to Reuters, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said the footage was "laughable" and that Kyiv was "absolutely confident that no such attack took place". 

Reuters could not confirm the location and the date of the footage showing fragments of a destroyed device. The model of the destroyed device could not be immediately verified. 

Other footage featured a man, identified as Igor Bolshakov from a ‌village in the Novgorod region, saying he had heard air defense rockets in action.