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

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🥴 '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.

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🤬 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.

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📧 “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.

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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.

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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.

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🤡 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

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🔸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?

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Top 5 nuclear powers convene in Dubai to discuss nuclear doctrines

Representatives from the five nuclear-armed nations— the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China— convened in Dubai under China's chairmanship, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The meeting took place on December 4 and was characterized as "frank" by Beijing.

In the wake of Ukraine's ATACMS attack, President Vladimir Putin of Russia has authorized an updated nuclear doctrine that outlines the conditions under which Russia may employ its nuclear arsenal. This includes responses to conventional military strikes and situations where a "non-nuclear state" is supported by a nuclear-armed nation.

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❗️Response to Ukrainian strikes on Russia's city of Taganrog with Western missiles will follow when and in the way deemed appropriate, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said

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🇨🇳🇷🇺 China and Russia to continue deepening mutual trust and strategic coordination, China's President Xi Jinping says at meeting with Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Medvedev in Beijing.

At the meeting, Medvedev said that he had brought Xi a "personal message" from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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❗️Russian troops have liberated the settlement of Zarya in the Donetsk People's Republic, Russia's Defense Ministry announced

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🇷🇺🪖Key statements from the Russian MoD daily briefing on the special military operation's progress:    

▪️Ukrainian forces lost up to 410 militants in the area of responsibility of Russia's Zapad Battlegroup;

▪️Ukrainian losses in Russia's Yug Battlegroup's area of responsibility amounted to up to 295 soldiers;

▪️As a result of the actions of the Russian Sever and Dnepr Battlegroups, Ukrainian troops lost up to 100 fighters;

▪️Russian air defenses shot down four HIMARS shells and 37 Ukrainian drones.

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US intelligence services pressed to assess the consequences of ending Washington's support for Ukraine

American lawmakers have called on key intelligence chiefs to assess the security risks and effects of Ukraine's potential defeat on US national interests, the Hill has written.

The newspaper noted that the assessment should include the ability of Ukraine’s military to fight if the US continues or withholds military and economic support, and if the US maintains or withdraws permission on the use of long-range provided missiles to strike deep into Russia.

Are they preparing for something? 🤔

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🇷🇺⚓️ The Russian naval nuclear group has been completely updated, said the commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Alexander Moiseyev.

"The naval group of nuclear forces of the Russian Federation has been completely updated - this remains a priority for our country. Nuclear forces have been and will be the guarantor of the security of our state at the global level," Moiseyev said at the plenary session of the XIV International Forum "Arctic: Present and Future".

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🇧🇾 President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has ordered the deployment of the medium-range Oreshnik missile systems in the republic and the competent planning of its use, according to Chief of the General Staff of Belarus Pavel Muraveiko.

"There is only one task — to ensure the deployment of Oreshnik on our territory and to competently plan its use," Muraveiko said.

When asked how many such systems are planned to be delivered to Belarus, the military said that "only the president of Russia knows about this."

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🇨🇳Key statements by China's President Xi Jinping at a meeting with Russia's Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev:

💬China believes Ukrainian crisis should not be provoked for further escalation

💬It's necessary to promote early detente of situation in Ukraine

💬China is ready to strengthen alignment of development strategies with Russia

💬China will continue to work with the international community to create favorable conditions for political regulation of the Ukrainian crisis

💬Russia and China must work together to maintain global strategic stability and international justice

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❗️🇭🇺 Hungarian PM Viktor Orban proposed an exchange of prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine and a ceasefire during a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

On the same day, Moscow submitted exchange proposals to the Hungarian embassy. Judging by Kiev's reaction, Ukraine rejected Orban's proposals, the presidential press secretary emphasized.

Consultations on establishing peace in Ukraine will continue and Moscow supports Orban's efforts, the Kremlin noted.

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❗️Russian troops have liberated the settlement of Novoivanovka in the Kursk region, its Defense Ministry said

The Ukrainian Armed Forces' total losses during the fighting in the Kursk region has now exceeded 40,000 soldiers, the ministry added.

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