Egypt, Chad Agree on Backing Efforts to Achieve Ceasefire in Sudan

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi received on Tuesday Chad President Mahamat Idriss Déby in New Alamein City (Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi received on Tuesday Chad President Mahamat Idriss Déby in New Alamein City (Egyptian Presidency)
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Egypt, Chad Agree on Backing Efforts to Achieve Ceasefire in Sudan

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi received on Tuesday Chad President Mahamat Idriss Déby in New Alamein City (Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi received on Tuesday Chad President Mahamat Idriss Déby in New Alamein City (Egyptian Presidency)

Egypt and Chad on Tuesday agreed on the necessity of supporting efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Sudan where the people suffer from an ongoing conflict and an exacerbating humanitarian crisis that requires urgent intervention.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi received Chad President Mahamat Idriss Déby in New Alamein City where the two leaders discussed bilateral relations and regional developments, according to a statement by the Egyptian Presidency.
Sisi emphasized the deep and longstanding historical relations between the two countries and their peoples.
He then reiterated Egypt's commitment to providing full support to Chad across various fields, including the transfer and sharing of Egyptian expertise in building the capacities of Chad in different developmental sectors such as energy, infrastructure, health, education, agriculture, and livestock.
This is in addition to cooperating in the areas of security and counter-terrorism, in light of Egypt’s keenness to ensure Chad’s security and stability.
For his part, Déby highlighted a mutual will to achieve significant advancement in bilateral cooperation across sectors.
He also valued the role of active Egyptian institutions and companies in Chad, particularly in supporting Chadian educational and cultural processes, infrastructure projects, and the activities of Al-Azhar mission in Chad.
The two presidents agreed to activate the work of the joint committee between the two countries to implement the agreed-upon matters and to accelerate the implementation of joint cooperation projects in a manner that serves the interests of both countries.
The meeting covered a number of African matters of mutual interest, notably the developments in Sudan, security in the Sahel region, and the enhancement of coordination regarding the role of the Community of Sahel–Saharan States.

“The two leaders agreed on the necessity of supporting efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Sudan, so as to uphold the higher interests of the Sudanese people, who are suffering from the ongoing conflict and the exacerbation of the humanitarian crisis that requires urgent intervention,” Presidential spokesman Ahmed Fahmy said.
They also affirmed their countries' support for all efforts to achieve stability in Libya and to bolster security in the Sahel region in confronting the continuing terrorist threats, Fahmy added.

 



Israel’s Security Cabinet Approves 19 New Settlements in West Bank

 A helicopter flies over the Israeli settlement of Shilo in the occupied West Bank on December 14, 2025. (AFP)
A helicopter flies over the Israeli settlement of Shilo in the occupied West Bank on December 14, 2025. (AFP)
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Israel’s Security Cabinet Approves 19 New Settlements in West Bank

 A helicopter flies over the Israeli settlement of Shilo in the occupied West Bank on December 14, 2025. (AFP)
A helicopter flies over the Israeli settlement of Shilo in the occupied West Bank on December 14, 2025. (AFP)

Israel's security cabinet approved the establishment of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, bringing the total number approved over the past three years to 69, an official statement said Sunday.

"The proposal by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz to declare and formalize 19 new settlements in Judea and Samaria has been approved by the cabinet," a statement from Smotrich's office said, without specifying when the decision was taken.

"On the ground, we are blocking the establishment of a Palestinian terror state. We will continue to develop, build, and settle the land of our ancestral heritage, with faith in the justice of our path," Smotrich said in the statement.


Iraq Top Judge Says Armed Factions to Cooperate on Weapons

Cars drive through central Baghdad as a thick fog blankets the Iraqi capital on December 11, 2025. (AFP)
Cars drive through central Baghdad as a thick fog blankets the Iraqi capital on December 11, 2025. (AFP)
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Iraq Top Judge Says Armed Factions to Cooperate on Weapons

Cars drive through central Baghdad as a thick fog blankets the Iraqi capital on December 11, 2025. (AFP)
Cars drive through central Baghdad as a thick fog blankets the Iraqi capital on December 11, 2025. (AFP)

The head of Iraq's highest judicial body said Saturday that the leaders of armed factions have agreed to cooperate on the sensitive issue of the state's monopoly on weapons.

However, the powerful Kataib Hezbollah group said that it would only discuss giving up its arms when foreign troops leave the country.

"The resistance is a right, and its weapons will remain in the hands of its fighters," the group said in a statement.

The leaders of three other pro-Iran factions designated by Washington as terrorist groups said that it is time to restrict weapons to state control, although they too have stopped short of committing to disarm -- a long-standing US demand.

Faiq Zidan, the head of Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council, in a statement thanked "faction leaders for heeding his advice to coordinate together to enforcing the rule of law, restrict weapons to state control, and transition to political action after the national need for military action has ceased".

After Iraq's general elections in November, the United States demanded that the new government exclude six groups it designates as terrorists and instead move to dismantle them, Iraqi officials and diplomats told AFP.

But some of the groups have increased their presence in the new parliament and are members of the Coordination Framework, a ruling alliance of Shiite parties with varying ties to Iran that holds the majority.

The blacklisted groups are part of the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces, a former paramilitary alliance that has integrated into the armed forces. But they have also developed a reputation for sometimes acting on their own.

They are also part of the Tehran-backed so-called "Axis of Resistance" and have called for the withdrawal of US troops -- deployed in Iraq as part of an anti-ISIS coalition -- and launched attacks against them.

These groups include the powerful Asaib Ahl al-Haq faction, which won 27 seats in the elections.

Earlier this week, the group's leader, Qais al-Khazali, a key figure in the Coordination Framework, said "we believe" in "the slogan to restrict weapons to the state", and "we are now part of the state".

Two other groups, Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya and Kataeb Imam Ali, said on Friday that it is time to "limit weapons to the state".


Israeli Military Says Killed Two Palestinians in West Bank

A Palestinian flag flutters in front of Israeli soldiers standing near their military vehicle parked at the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp, in the Israeli-occupied northern West Bank on December 15, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian flag flutters in front of Israeli soldiers standing near their military vehicle parked at the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp, in the Israeli-occupied northern West Bank on December 15, 2025. (AFP)
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Israeli Military Says Killed Two Palestinians in West Bank

A Palestinian flag flutters in front of Israeli soldiers standing near their military vehicle parked at the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp, in the Israeli-occupied northern West Bank on December 15, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian flag flutters in front of Israeli soldiers standing near their military vehicle parked at the entrance of the Nur Shams Palestinian refugee camp, in the Israeli-occupied northern West Bank on December 15, 2025. (AFP)

Israel's military said it killed two Palestinians in the north of the occupied West Bank Saturday, accusing one of throwing "a block" and the other an explosive at its soldiers.

In a statement the military said that during an operation "in the area of Qabatiya, a terrorist hurled a block toward the soldiers, who responded with fire and eliminated the terrorist".

"Simultaneously, during an additional operation in the Silat al-Harithiya area, a terrorist hurled an explosive toward the soldiers, who responded with fire and eliminated the terrorist."

Both locations are near the city of Jenin.

The Israeli military reported no injuries among its troops.

The Palestinian health ministry said that a 16-year-old boy died "from wounds caused by a bullet of the Israeli occupation forces", according to the official Wafa news agency.

It also reported that a 22-year-old man was killed by "a bullet to the chest during an occupation forces raid" on Silat al-Harithiya.

Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has soared since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 triggered the Gaza war.

It has not subsided despite the truce between Israel and Hamas that came into effect in October.

Israeli troops or settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, many of them gunmen, but also scores of civilians, in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.

At least 44 Israelis, both soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations, according to official Israeli figures.