🇮🇱🇮🇱❌🇹🇷 Israel's minister of national security, Itamar Ben Gvir, on X/Twitter:

"Turkey = Hamas" and with a picture of Hamas' late leader, Ismail Haniyeh shaking the hand of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

@CIG_telegram

🇹🇷⚔️🇮🇱 Neo-Ottomanism in Syria | Collision Course with Israel | CIG #commentary (revised)

By December 8th, 2024, the Syrian Arab Republic, along with the ruling Assad dynasty, had collapsed. In its place, the Syrian Transitional Government was established and emerged with a new era. As for what happens next, neighboring Iraq may present a realistic path forward. After Iraq, Iran, and Turkey defeated ISIS in 2017, they invaded Iraqi Kurdistan. This move enabled Turkish forces to expand militarily and establish many bases within Iraqi borders. Now, with Assad gone, Syria's Kurdish-ruled separatist state in the northeast has an uncertain future.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Northeastern Syria live in a house built on sand. As a Kurdish-led coalition of diverse ethnic militias, they will have to contend with local demographics, which include a wide geographical dispersion of Sunni Arabs. Many of whom are vocally sympathetic towards the FSA, setting the tone for mass uprisings and the activation of sleeper agents within their territories. In fact, much of the SDF itself is composed of such fifth column elements. If a joint Syrian-Turkish invasion transpired here, it would likely be accepted as a war of liberation with local support among the Arab populace.

After a major victory for Turkish influence in the Levant, US & Israeli officials are worried about defending a land corridor in Syria. In order to prevent regional actors such as Turkey, Iran, and various Islamist factions from posing a threat to Israel and their regional allies, the Kurds. Some have theorized that Israel and Turkey agreed to partition Syria. Something akin to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the ramifications it had for Poland. Despite the outcome of which led to the most brutal chapter of war in human history with tens of millions dead.

https://syriagenerals.wordpress.com/2024/12/09/neo-ottomanism-in-syria-collision-course-with-israel/

@CIG_telegram

🇹🇷❌🇮🇱 Turkey has closed its airspace to Israeli aircraft and passenger airlines.

Flights from Israel to Russia will now be longer in duration.

@CIG_telegram

🇺🇸⚖️ DOJ drops charges against another client of AG Pam Bondi's brother Brad

For the second time in less than a month, the Justice Department on Wednesday abruptly dropped charges against a client represented by Brad Bondi, the brother of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Federal prosecutors in Missouri this week agreed to voluntarily dismiss an indictment against Sid Chakraverty, a property developer who faced felony wire fraud charges. Prosecutors under the Biden administration accused Chakraverty in 2024 of lying about hiring women- and minority-owned subcontractors on a housing development in order to allegedly secure favorable tax incentives.

As recently as three weeks ago, career prosecutors held that Chakraverty should face criminal penalties for his alleged scheme.

But on Wednesday, the newly installed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, Thomas Albus, a Trump appointee, filed court papers informing the judge overseeing the case that the "defendants have agreed to make restitution of the taxes" and that it is therefore "prudent for the government to end this criminal prosecution."

In his letter to the judge, Albus explained that the decision to drop charges was part of a department-wide directive to no longer prosecute cases against those accused of violating "race- and sex-based presumptions like the [disadvantaged business enterprise] program" in St. Louis.

🔗 https://abcnews.go.com/US/doj-drops-charges-client-ag-pam-bondis-brother/story?id=125073335&cid=social_twitter_abcn

🇺🇸🤝🇮🇱 Texas AG, Ken Paxton, on X/Twitter:

I'm announcing an investigation and demanding documents from Plano ISD following several antisemitic incidents.

Any teacher or administrator that has facilitated or supported radical anti-Israel rhetoric in our schools should be fired immediately.

🔗 Ken Paxton

🇮🇩 Mass protests have erupted in Indonesia, with hundreds of students and workers marching through Jakarta demanding higher wages, lower taxes, and fairer economic conditions.

The movement, initially led by labour unions and students, escalated after security forces used extreme force, firing rubber bullets at close range, beating demonstrators, and even ramming a police vehicle into crowds, according to witnesses and circulating videos.

🔗 OSINTWarfare (@OSINTWarfare)

🇮🇱✈️🤝🇹🇷 — TRACKED: Despite Turkey’s announcement less than 24 hours ago that its airspace was shut to all Israeli flights, Israeli airlines are still transiting Turkish skies without restriction.

➡️Arkia Israeli Airlines flight AIZ388 (IZ388), an Airbus A320-214 from Belgrade to Tel Aviv.

➡️The flight path shows it crossing Turkish airspace near Izmir, despite Ankara’s recent announcement that Israeli flights were banned from entering Turkish skies.