geneva_convenience

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that Kurdish fighters in Syria will either lay down their weapons or “be buried”, amid hostilities between Turkiye-backed Syrian rebels and other armed groups since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month.

Following al-Assad’s ouster on December 8, Ankara has repeatedly insisted that the Kurdish YPG militia must disband, asserting that the group has no place in Syria’s future.

Turkiye views the YPG militia – the main component of the United States-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militia, which has waged a rebellion against the Turkish state since 1984.

The PKK is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkiye, the US and the European Union. Ankara has repeatedly called on its NATO ally Washington and others to stop supporting the YPG.

OVERALL UN PERSON OF THE YEAR:

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian territories.

FIRST RUNNER-UP: Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)

SECOND RUNNER-UP: António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said the ongoing ceasefire and prisoner negotiations exchange in Doha under Qatari and Egyptian mediators has faced a setback.

Hamas cited new conditions proposed by “Israel” related to their withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, which has been an utmost priority for Hamas since the start of the aggression, as the reason for the delay.

“Israeli” also introduced new demands regarding the provisions of the ceasefire, captives, and the return of displaced Gazans to their homes.

The Houthis announced Wednesday that they had launched a ballistic missile toward central 'Israel', marking their second attack within 24 hours.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree stated that the missile, named "Palestine 2," targeted an 'Israeli' military site in Jaffa. He claimed the operation was successful.

An engine room explosion sank a Russian cargo ship called Ursa Major in the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Algeria and two of its crew are missing, the Russian foreign ministry has said.

The vessel, built in 2009, was controlled by Oboronlogistika, a company that is part of the Russian defence ministry’s military construction operations, which had previously said it was en route to the Russian far-eastern port of Vladivostok with two giant port cranes lashed to its deck.

The foreign ministry’s crisis centre said in a statement that 14 of the ship’s 16 crew members had been rescued and brought to Spain, but that two crew were still missing. It did not say what had caused the explosion.

My phone takes pretty good videos but the filesize is absurbd. Using handbrake on desktop can make them far smaller at almost the same quality but my phone storage fills up rather fast and this requires me to move them off device.

Is there an app which keeps track of non transcoded videos in my camera folder and can transcode them on my phone while I am asleep?

The Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA) reported that security officials stated "Israel" is preparing for another attack in Yemen, this time planning to involve additional countries in the operation.

The agency further noted, citing a source within the occupation, that a message has been sent to the US indicating that Tel Aviv anticipates an increase in attacks against the Houthis.

The Israeli occupation forces acknowledged their use of live ammunition against protesters in southern Syria, claiming the action targeted what they described as a "threat."

According to an IOF statement, one protester sustained a gunshot wound to the leg in the village of Maaria.

The incident unfolded during a demonstration against the Israeli military presence and its encroachment on agricultural lands in the area.

It is worth noting that the IOF recently occupied two villages in the Yarmouk Basin region of Daraa province in southern Syria. These actions are part of what appears to be an ongoing expansion of Israeli-occupied territories in Syria, particularly since the emergence of new regime forces in the country.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has publicly accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of attempting to bribe him with €500 million in exchange for Slovakia’s backing of Ukraine’s NATO membership bid. Fico made the explosive allegation during a press conference in Brussels on Thursday, following a private meeting with Zelensky on the sidelines of an EU leaders' summit.

The suspect in the deadly ramming at a Christmas market in Germany on Friday was an anti-Islam activist who shared pro-Israel content on social media in the wake of the October 7 attacks, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the Journal report, the suspect, a Saudi national who had moved to Germany in 2006, ran a website and social media channels warning against Islam and discussing women’s rights, as well as posting content in support of Israel.

He also showed support for Germany’s far-right anti-immigration AfD party, the report said.

After years of telling the public that the United States has about 900 troops in Syria, the Pentagon has revealed there are approximately 2,000 soldiers there — double the previous estimate.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said the additional US forces have been in Syria since before the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad this month, though he did not specify a timeframe.

“We have been briefing you regularly that there are approximately 900 US troops deployed to Syria. In light of the situation in Syria and the significant interest, we recently learned that those numbers were higher,” Ryder said.

Israel's missile defense system successfully intercepted a Yemeni ballistic missile early Thursday, but the operation's debris caused significant damage to an elementary school in central Israel, forcing its immediate closure and highlighting the expanding reach of regional conflicts.

The incident in Ramat Gan occurred at 2:47 a.m. when interceptor fragments struck the school's main building.