Turkish President Erdogan:

We literally defeated the ISIS terror group, which is a tool for regional plans that is tried to be reactivated nowadays.

Israeli special forces deployed under the cover of an ambulance to kill suspects in Nablus, West Bank.

Syrian Finance Minister announces a 400% emergency salary increase for public sector employees.

Syrian Finance Minister:

Salary increase will be financed through the public treasury, regional aid, investments, and perhaps by freezing Syrian assets held abroad.

Salary increase will cost about 1.65 trillion Syrian pounds per month.

Russian FPV drones targeting Ukrainian armored vehicles in Kursk Region.

Israeli soldier flees Brazil amid war crimes investigation.

Brazil’s Federal Court ordered police to investigate Israeli soldier Yuval Vagdani over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

However, Israeli media reports Vagdani fled Brazil and is returning to Israel.

How he avoided arrest remains unclear.

Residents of Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsoud district rise up against the YPG/PKK/SDF terror group presence in the area.

Iran is bracing for a tough year amid a looming confrontation with the incoming Trump administration, coupled with an unprecedented economic crisis, social unrest, and waning regional influence.

The Iranian rial plunged 40% in 2024, ending at 821,500 rials per dollar, while GDP per capita fell 45% since 2012 to $4,465.

Chronic energy mismanagement has led to power cuts, halting schools, offices, and industrial production. Factories operate at just 41% capacity, and food production is severely disrupted.

Strikes and protests highlight growing discontent:
• Tehran’s Grand Bazaar traders protested inflation.
• Oil workers at Abadan demonstrated over unpaid wages.
• Pensioners and teachers criticized delayed welfare payments.

Inflation hit 37% in November, with over 32 million Iranians living below the poverty line. Food prices have skyrocketed—meat prices quintupled, and potatoes doubled in three years.

Although Tehran has eased some restrictions, like lifting the WhatsApp ban, platforms like Instagram remain blocked.

While officials signal willingness for nuclear talks, doubts linger over Iran’s readiness to compromise as Trump faces domestic pressure to adopt a hardline stance.

Source: WSJ

Zelensky:

Lukashenko apologized in the first days of the war and said that he was not to blame for the missiles being launched from the territory of his country.

Zelensky:

We will agree to a ceasefire if we are provided with weapons to repel future attacks.

If the ceasefire works, no one is going to use these weapons. But they should remain, with all due respect to the United States. I don't want a repeat of the situation that happened with Biden.

New footage of Cybertruck explosion near Trump Hotel in Las Vegas.

- CNN

Zelensky:

Putin is like Voldemort. He who must not be named.

NEW: North Korea fired a medium-range ballistic missile during US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Seoul.

The South Korean military announced that the missile was launched at noon shortly after Blinken's meeting with South Korean Acting President Choi Sang-mok.

The Japanese Coast Guard announced that parts of the missile fell into the sea.

- Reuters

NEW: Sudanese leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has accepted Türkiye's mediation offer to resolve the ongoing conflict in Sudan.

The Turkish initiative aims to provide dialogue between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for a peaceful resolution.

Türkiye launched this initiative following mediation efforts led by the US and Saudi Arabia that failed to end the conflict. As a regional power, Türkiye hopes to play an important role in facilitating negotiations and promoting peace in Sudan.

NEW: Hamas has provided a list of 34 hostages it is willing to release as part of a potential ceasefire agreement with Israel. The list includes 10 women, 11 elderly men aged 50 to 85, and young children previously reported killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Ceasefire negotiations resumed in Doha, Qatar, over the weekend but have not yet made significant progress.

A Hamas official stated that any agreement to return Israeli hostages would depend on Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire.

- BBC

The first Saudi humanitarian aid convoy arrived at the Nassib border crossing between Jordan and Syria.

- Levant 24