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Lebanon: Syrian Minors Arrested in Assassination Case of Key ‘Qassam’ Figure

Firefighters douse a burning car after it was hit in a reported Israeli drone attack in Lebanon's southern area of Naqoura near the border with Israel on March 13, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)
Firefighters douse a burning car after it was hit in a reported Israeli drone attack in Lebanon's southern area of Naqoura near the border with Israel on March 13, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)
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Lebanon: Syrian Minors Arrested in Assassination Case of Key ‘Qassam’ Figure

Firefighters douse a burning car after it was hit in a reported Israeli drone attack in Lebanon's southern area of Naqoura near the border with Israel on March 13, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)
Firefighters douse a burning car after it was hit in a reported Israeli drone attack in Lebanon's southern area of Naqoura near the border with Israel on March 13, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)

The Palestinian factions and Islamic forces in the Tyre region in Lebanon announced on Friday the arrest of a group of Israeli agents it said were involved in the assassination of a member of the Qassam Brigades earlier this month, and handing them over to the relevant Lebanese authorities.
It is a first for the factions to make such an announcement since the outbreak of clashes between the Hezbollah group and Israel in southern Lebanon, following the Al-Aqsa Flood operation in Gaza and Israel’s focus on assassinating members and officials of Hamas and Hezbollah.
In its statement, the factions said: "After the cowardly assassination of Qassam Brigades member Hadi Mustafa (Abu Shadi), carried out by the Zionist enemy on Wednesday, March 13, 2024, the leadership of the factions and Islamic forces conducted thorough field monitoring and surveillance operations, during which investigations revealed the involvement of a group of infiltrators in our camp in the assassination operation”.
“They have been handed over to the relevant security authorities in the Lebanese state”, it added.
Two Individuals in Army’s Custody
The Palestinian factions have handed two Syrian minors to the Lebanese army intelligence, according to Lebanese security sources. They are being interrogated for their involvement in the assassination of Hadi Mustafa.
A source told Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity that the detainees planted a tracking device in the vehicle of a member of the Qassam Brigades, facilitating his assassination with an Israeli drone.
A Lebanese judicial source also confirmed the arrest of two individuals suspected of involvement in the assassination of Mustafa. “The army intelligence is conducting an investigation with two Syrian minors based on information linking them to this assassination”, he told Asharq AlAwsat.
Hamas: Arresting the Operator
A source in the Hamas group told Asharq Al-Awsat that a third person, the operator of the Syrian minors, was arrested in the Rashidieh Palestinian refugee camp. According to information, each of the detainees received the sum of approximately 11 US dollars in exchange for planting the tracking device.
The Israeli army had said that Mustafa was a "central figure" in Hamas in Lebanon and that he was "promoting terrorist activities against Israeli targets worldwide, and was involved in directing sabotage cells and field activities to attack Israeli and Jewish targets in various countries around the world."
Record Full of Assassinations
One of the most notable assassinations attributed to Israeli operatives is the killing of Hamas leader and head of its political office, Saleh al-Arouri, in an Israeli raid targeting a building in the southern suburb of Beirut, the stronghold of the Lebanese Hezbollah.
Additionally, the assassination of the son of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc leader, MP Mohammed Raad, occurred during a raid targeting a residence in southern Lebanon while he was inside with several party members.
Furthermore, the assassination of Wissam al-Taweel, a commander in the Al-Ridwan Force affiliated with Hezbollah, took place in a bombing targeting his car in southern Lebanon.
According to Dr. Riad Kahwaji, the CEO of the Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA), "In wars, armies always seek to strengthen their intelligence capabilities against the targeted party, which is why Israel always resorts to enhancing human intelligence and recruiting agents for it is not a new matter."
“The repeated successes in targeting leaders, whether from Hezbollah or Hamas and knowing their movement methods and times, as well as identifying weapon storage locations, require advanced intelligence work through agents present on the ground.
“It appears that the Israeli side has succeeded in recruiting a large number of these agents, enabling it to achieve the desired hits”, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

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Arab World

Israeli Military Says Detained Suspected ISIS Militant in Syria

FILE PHOTO: Israeli military vehicles manoeuvre along the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, November 24, 2025. REUTERS/Shir Torem/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Israeli military vehicles manoeuvre along the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, November 24, 2025. REUTERS/Shir Torem/File Photo
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Israeli Military Says Detained Suspected ISIS Militant in Syria

FILE PHOTO: Israeli military vehicles manoeuvre along the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, November 24, 2025. REUTERS/Shir Torem/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Israeli military vehicles manoeuvre along the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, November 24, 2025. REUTERS/Shir Torem/File Photo

The Israeli military said on Saturday its forces had arrested a suspected ISIS militant in Syria earlier this week and taken him back to Israel.

In a statement, the military said that on Wednesday "soldiers completed an operation in the area of Rafid in southern Syria to apprehend a suspected terrorist affiliated with ISIS.”

"The suspect was transferred for further processing in Israeli territory," the statement said.

Arab World

Report: Colombian Mercenaries in Sudan ‘Recruited by UK-registered Firms’

(COMBO) This combination of satellite images released by Planet Labs PBC on December 19, 2025, shows from top left to bottom right:- the graves near the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) headquarters in El-Fasher, taken on the following dates: on October 8, 2025, on October 27, 2025, on January 15, 2025, and on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Handout / Planet Labs / AFP)
(COMBO) This combination of satellite images released by Planet Labs PBC on December 19, 2025, shows from top left to bottom right:- the graves near the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) headquarters in El-Fasher, taken on the following dates: on October 8, 2025, on October 27, 2025, on January 15, 2025, and on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Handout / Planet Labs / AFP)
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Report: Colombian Mercenaries in Sudan ‘Recruited by UK-registered Firms’

(COMBO) This combination of satellite images released by Planet Labs PBC on December 19, 2025, shows from top left to bottom right:- the graves near the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) headquarters in El-Fasher, taken on the following dates: on October 8, 2025, on October 27, 2025, on January 15, 2025, and on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Handout / Planet Labs / AFP)
(COMBO) This combination of satellite images released by Planet Labs PBC on December 19, 2025, shows from top left to bottom right:- the graves near the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) headquarters in El-Fasher, taken on the following dates: on October 8, 2025, on October 27, 2025, on January 15, 2025, and on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Handout / Planet Labs / AFP)

An exclusive investigation by UK’s The Guardian has found companies hiring hundreds of Colombian fighters for Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces.

A one-bedroom flat off north London’s Creighton Road in Tottenham is, according to UK government records, tied to a transnational network of companies involved in the mass recruitment of mercenaries to fight in Sudan alongside the RSF, said the report.

Colombian mercenaries were directly involved in the RSF’s seizure of the southwestern Sudanese city of El Fasher in late October, which prompted a killing frenzy that analysts say has cost at least 60,000 lives.

“The flat in Tottenham is registered to a company called Zeuz Global, set up by two individuals named and sanctioned last week by the US treasury for hiring Colombian mercenaries to fight for the RSF,” said The Guardian.

“Both figures – Colombian nationals in their 50s – are described in documents at Companies House, the government register of firms operating in the UK, as living in Britain,” it said.

“The day after the US treasury announced sanctions on those behind the Colombian mercenary operation –December 9 – Zeuz Global abruptly moved its operation to the very heart of London. On 10 December the firm shared “new address details” Its new postcode matches One Aldwych, a five-star hotel in Covent Garden,” the report added.

Yet the first line of Zeuz Global’s new address is, confusingly, “4dd Aldwych,” which corresponds to the Waldorf Hilton hotel 100 meters away, according to The Guardian.

Both hotels said they had no link to Zeuz Global and had no idea why the firm had used their postcodes.

“It is of major concern that the key individuals the US government claims are directing this mercenary supply have been able to set up a UK company operating from a flat in north London, and even to claim that they’re resident in the UK,” said Mike Lewis, a researcher and former member of the UN panel of experts on Sudan.

When Companies House was asked if it had any knowledge of what Zeuz Global actually did, or is doing, it did not respond. The government agency would also not confirm whether the sanctioned individuals were, in fact, resident in the UK.

Contacting Zeuz proved fruitless; its website, set up in May, was labelled as “under construction” with no contact details provided.

Arab World

Egyptian President Urges UN Security Council Reforms for Africa's Larger Role

In this photo, provided by Egypt's presidency media office, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, front right, greets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, left, before their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (Egyptian Presidency Media Office via AP)
In this photo, provided by Egypt's presidency media office, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, front right, greets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, left, before their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (Egyptian Presidency Media Office via AP)
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Egyptian President Urges UN Security Council Reforms for Africa's Larger Role

In this photo, provided by Egypt's presidency media office, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, front right, greets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, left, before their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (Egyptian Presidency Media Office via AP)
In this photo, provided by Egypt's presidency media office, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, front right, greets Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, left, before their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (Egyptian Presidency Media Office via AP)

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi on Saturday reiterated calls for structural changes in the UN Security Council to grant Africa a larger role in shaping global decisions.

El-Sisi made the plea for a “more pluralistic” world order at a conference of the Russia-Africa partnership held in Cairo, which was attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and ministers from more than 50 African countries along with representatives from several African and regional organizations.

“The voice of Africa should be present and influential in making global decisions given the continent’s human, economic, political and demographic weight,” el-Sisi said in a statement read out by his foreign minister at the plenary session of the conference.

According to The Associated Press, he added that international financial institutions need to undergo similar reforms to ensure Africa an equitable representation.

Since 2005, the African Union has been demanding that Africa be granted two permanent seats with veto powers in the Security Council, arguing that such reforms would contribute to achieving peace and stability on the continent, which has been struggling with wars for decades.

The Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, has not changed from its 1945 configuration: 10 non-permanent members from all regions of the world elected for two-year terms without veto power, and five countries that were dominant powers at the end of World War II are permanent members with veto power: The United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

In his statement, el-Sisi said that the Russia-Africa ministerial conference will develop a plan to consolidate the partnership ahead of next year’s summit of heads of state.

“We remain a reliable partner for African states in strengthening their national sovereignty, both politically and in matters of security, as well as in other dimensions,” Lavrov said at the plenary session. “We’re committed to further unlocking the existing enormous potential of our practical cooperation.”