❓What is the strategic importance of Deir ez-Zor and could it cause new Kurdish-Syrian conflict?

Syrian militants have seized the city of Deir ez-Zor from US-backed Kurdish militants.

Dr Lorenzo Trombetta, a UN Consultant on Middle East, explained the province’s significance:

🔸 "Deir ez-Zor is a crucial hotspot between central and eastern Syria," the pundit said, and "the main hub along the Euphrates River running from Turkiye towards the Gulf."

🔸 According to some estimates, Deir ez-Zor holds 70% of Syrian oil reserves and a major gas field. It is linked via a pipeline to Syria's other fossil fuel deposits in Al-Hasakah and Homs

🔸 "Nowadays it's the major hub of confrontation between two areas of influence," Trombetta stressed: the US and the SDF on one side and the new transitional government-aligned Syrian armed groups on the other.

🔸 But he suggests that the US might abandon its Kurdish allies at any time and "replace them with other tribal Arab clans on the Euphrates River."

🔸 While the US seems ready to negotiate the Kurdish withdrawal up to north-eastern Syria, Washington wants to retain control over Syrian oil and gas, the expert argued.

🔸 The US wants to "maintain their military bases and the positions along the main energetic spots of Al-Omar oil field and the Conoco gas plant and other strategic positions along the eastern bank of the Euphrates river," he said.

🔸 Trombetta expects short-to-mid-term battles between the Kurdish and Syrian militants – which would not translate into a long-term conflict, as it is the US which will call the shots in the region.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨Most authentic News channel that covers Conflicts, Defence and Strategic affairs

✔️Follow @ResonantNews telegram channel for regular updates

⚡️Protests, Coup, War Zone or Espionage,

📹Resonant News shows you the bigger picture.

▶️You can also follow us on our Youtube channel. 👇

👉 🇮🇳One minute is all that they had. RISKIEST operation by Indian Special forces and Military intelligence 💀

👉🇮🇳Indian Army's MOST SUCCESSFUL Counter terrorism operation 💀

👉 🇮🇳A soldier narrates his UNUSUAL experiences

👉 A 20 days long op by a SECRET Commando Force of India ☠️

👉 BRAHMOS- The Indo🇮🇳- Russian 🇷🇺 Missile, how much do you know about it? 🚀

💬 Trump calls resignation of FBI Chief Wray ‘great day for America,’ end of weaponization of agency

“They have used their vast powers to threaten and destroy many innocent Americans, some of which will never be able to recover from what has been done to them,” US President-elect Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🤡 ‘I’m sorry, what is the question?’ – Pentagon fails to explain what legal authority allows US to have a military presence in Syria

💬 “Under what legal authority, either international or national, does the US have a force posture in Syria?” a reporter asked Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh during a press briefing.

🗣 “I’m sorry, what is the question?” Singh replied, seemingly puzzled by the inquiry. “We’ve had a true presence and arrangement there for a number of years. Again, we continue to operate with the SDF to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS*. That has been our mission from the very beginning,” the deputy press secretary claimed.

Since 2015, parts of Syria’s oil-rich eastern region have been occupied by US and allied militant forces. The US has refused to withdraw, justifying its presence as part of the fight against terrorism, despite the Syrian government consistently denouncing the American presence as an act of military aggression and calling for the immediate withdrawal of US troops from its territory.

*designated as a terrorist organization and is banned in Russia and several other countries

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❓ Will Syria fragment along sectarian lines or stay united?

After president Bashar al-Assad’s resignation, the question is how Alawites, Druze, Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds will coexist in the "patched-up" state.

Dr Lorenzo Trombetta, a UN Consultant on Middle East, outlines potential scenarios.

🔸 Libyan scenario: Syria may see "many opposite militias fighting one against each other, trying to assert control of different regions supported by different regional and international powers that are occupying the ground."

🔸 Lebanese scenario: "Central and western Syria will be united under one formal state... excluding the Kurdish forces on the east and northeast". Warlords of different factions and sectarian groups "will be transformed into legitimate political representatives."

🔸 Trombetta says the Lebanese scenario would be "the most comfortable one for the international community" with a new state able to work with the West, Gulf kingdoms, Turkiye, Russia and Israel.

🔸 "The Sunnis are the majority, but for many decades are not fully in power. In the Lebanese scenario, the Sunni can count more than other factions," the pundit says, adding that the future Syria should adopt a more sensitive approach.

🔸 "There should not be a sectarian and communal partition of the political posts and resources," the pundit stresses, "but there should be a consensus based on citizenship principles away from belonging to that sect or that community."

🔸 He suggests that the model for a new Syrian state should not be a pseudo-unified society suffering from sectarian and ethnic divisions.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ Trump invites China's Xi to inauguration – reports

President-elect Donald Trump has allegedly invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration next month, CBS News reported, citing sources.

The invitation came in early November, soon after Trump won the presidential election, the media said, adding that inauguration officials are also making arrangements for other foreign dignitaries to be present at the swearing-in ceremony, the media said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🤡 'I am, and always will be, a proud feminist' – Trudeau slams Americans for not electing 'woman president'

While speaking at the Equal Voice Foundation Gala in Ottawa, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered his share of criticism of democratic process in the US where the majority of people elected Donald Trump to be the 47th president but not Vice President Kamala Harris.

💬 “It shouldn't be that way. It wasn't supposed to be that way. We were supposed to be on a steady, if difficult sometimes, march towards progress. And yet, just a few weeks ago, the United States voted for a second time to not elect its first woman president,” Trudeau said seemingly trying to shame Americans for their choice.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

IS* strengthens positions in Syria amid chaos in country – Kurdish general

The Islamic State* terrorist group has strengthened its positions in Syria amid chaos in the country after armed opposition came to power, Gen. Abdi Mazloum of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has said.

💬 "ISIS is now stronger in the Syrian desert. Previously, they were in remote areas and hiding, but now they have greater freedom of movement since they face no issues with other groups and are not engaged in conflict with them," Mazloum told Sky News.

He added that IS activity had also increased in areas controlled by the SDF.

💬 "Just a few days ago, three members of the Internal Security Forces were killed near al Hassakah in an ISIS operation," Mazloum said.

* ISIS (also known as ISIS/IL/ISIS-K/Islamic State) is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🥴 'They have legitimate security concerns. They have a right to self-defense’ – Pentagon validates Israeli occupation of Syrian territory

Following Israeli advances deeper into Syrian territory and continuing strikes on the country’s military facilities, a reporter asked Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh during a press briefing about the US support for Israel in its strikes on Syrian territory and ground invasion.

💬 “I think what you're referring to is the operations that they're conducting to eliminate what are threats to their security, which include chemical weapons, missiles, rockets that the Assad regime controlled,” Singh replied, repeating the unsubstantiated claim about “chemical weapons” used by “the Assad regime” in Syria.

Syria destroyed its stocks of chemical weapons between 2013 and 2014 in an agreement facilitated by Russia and the United States and overseen by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The US and its allies have since gone on to accuse Damascus of using its no-longer-existing chemical weapons stockpiles to target opposing groups and civilians.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🤬 South Korean President calls mutiny accusations unfounded – reports

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Thursday that he does not understand the reasons why he is accused of mutiny after imposing martial law in the country.

💬 "To view the emergency measures to save the country as an act of civil war to destroy the country is to put our constitution and legal system at serious risk," Yoon said in his address to the nation broadcast by YTN.

He also said that he does not understand how constitutional measures taken "in absence of any other option" may be interpreted as a mutiny. Yoon added that he used his power to impose martial law in order to "protect the nation and normalize state affairs," also calling the decision a "highly calibrated political judgment."

The opposition tried to present him as a criminal and if such powers come to power in South Korea, they may cause serious damage, the president added.

💬 "Now the opposition is jeopardizing the security of the country and the citizens... it is not clear whose party they are and whose country this parliament is," Yoon said.

He also vowed to fight against impeachment.

💬 "I will fight together with the people to the end... Whether I am impeached or a probe is launched, I will stand up to it with integrity," the president said.

Later in the day, Han Dong-hoon, the leader of South Korean ruling People Power Party, called for supporting Yoon's impeachment as the party's position despite earlier backing the president's voluntary resignation.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📧 “Hillary sent and received exactly zero classified emails," but Bill Clinton is ready to talk with Biden about pre-emptive pardoning of her

💬 “It was a made-up, phony story. So, you know, I guess if Kash Patel is determined to make one up, he could do it. But I think... If President Biden wanted to talk to me about that, I would talk to him about it, but I don't think I should be giving public advice on the pardon power,” former US President Bill Clinton told the ABC talk show The View.

💬 “But if he pardons them, that sort of implies that they did something wrong, which they didn't,” a sudden glimpse of logic emerged from one of the co-hosts, only to be drowned out in the chitchat.

The Clinton email scandal erupted back in 2015 when it became publicly known that Hillary Clinton had used her private email server for official communications during her tenure as Secretary of State.

It later turned out that Hillary Clinton deleted about 33,000 emails by the time she handed over work-related correspondence from her private server to the US State Department in 2014. Predictably, it added more fuel to the fire and prompted questions about why she decided to delete them.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Hamas may agree on deal that allows Israel to stay in Gaza after ceasefire — report
 
The Palestinian movement could agree that Israeli troops could stay in the Philadelphi corridor between Egypt and Gaza, and the Netzarim corridor dividing the Gaza Strip in half, the Wall Street Journal reports citing sources. The newspaper added that Hamas also agreed that it would not be present on the Palestinian part of Rafah between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
 
It is noted that the movement also handed over a list of hostages, including US citizens, who will be released in the event of a ceasefire agreement.
 
Under the current proposal, Israel and Hamas are considering a 60-day ceasefire period, during which up to 30 hostages in the Gaza Strip will be released, WSJ stresses. In return, Israel will release a number of Palestinian prisoners and increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Israel, US vote against UN resolution on ceasefire in Gaza
 
The United Nations General Assembly voted to demand an "immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire" between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the immediate release of all hostages, Reuters reports.
 
Russia supported the resolution, while the US and Israel voted against the ceasefire deal.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🤡 Done with the Dems? Zuck now sucks up to Trump

Meta* CEO Mark Zuckerberg donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund to boost his "once-fraught relationship" with the president-elect, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Let's recall some of Zuckerberg's moves towards Trump:

▪️Meta donated $1,825,438 to Kamala Harris' campaign during the 2024 US presidential election, supporting the Democratic contender rather than Republican nominee, Donald Trump.

▪️Mark Zuckerberg and his wife donated around $420 million to election offices across the US, reportedly helping Democrats during the 2020 vote.

▪️In the wake of the 2020 election and the January 6 unrest, the tech entrepreneur banned Donald Trump and some of his supporters on Facebook.

▪️In October 2020, both Facebook and Twitter censored the much-talked-about story of Hunter Biden's "laptop from hell."

Has Zuckerberg changed his political views or is he just a henchman of those in power?🤔

*banned for extremism in Russia

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔸Pentagon validates Israeli occupation of Syrian territory, fails to explain what legal authority allows US to have a military presence in Syria

🔸Israel, US vote against UN resolution on ceasefire in Gaza

🔸Zuckerberg donated $1 million to Trump

🔸Pardon Hillary Clinton?

Check out Sputnik analysis:

▫️Will Syria fragment along sectarian lines or stay united?

▫️What is the strategic importance of Deir ez-Zor and could it cause new Kurdish-Syrian conflict?

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt