January, 2025

• 15 January

  ISIS – The return to Europe

  In short Over the last decade, ISIS is one of the most ferocious terror organizations in the world. Its horrible techniques of torturing and slaughtering its enemies (which is pretty much everyone else) is considered extreme even for other terrorists and gave it during its prime days a vile reputation.

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• 14 January

  Syrians divided as HTS grants military ranks to foreign fighters

  

  In-depth: The decision by Syria’s new de facto leader to grant high-ranking military titles to HTS commanders, including foreign fighters, has raised concerns. The decision by Syria’s interim authorities to grant a slew of senior military ranks to leaders of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and its allied factions, including non-Syrians, …

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• 14 January

  The future of US foreign policy towards a new Syria

  

  Analysis: How Trump’s team navigates Syria’s delicate transition into the post-Assad era could have profound repercussions for the country. Once President-elect Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office on 20 January, his administration will need to make critical decisions concerning Syria. How Trump’s team navigates the war-torn country’s delicate transition …

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• 14 January

  Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s New Leader: From Jihadist to Stateman?

  

  On December 8, 2024, rebels led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, under the leadership of Ahmed al-Sharaa, aka Abu Muhammad al-Julani, captured Damascus and overthrew the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after a 12-day military campaign, and al-Sharaa became the de facto ruler of Syria.[2]Ahmed al-Sharaa’s ideology changed throughout his …

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• 14 January

  New Syrian Regime Stages A Show Of Force In Damascus, Cracks Down On Al-Assad Regime Loyalists

  

  A December 29, 2024 report on the TRT Network (Turkey) highlighted the military operations of the new Syrian regime and its efforts to crack down on the remnants of Bashar Al-Assad’s former leadership. According to TRT Arabic correspondent Rama Akili, the Directorate of Military Operations in Syria is focused on …

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• 14 January

  Al-Qaeda Supporters Lash Out At Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS)-Linked Syrian Administration For Granting New Year’s Vacation, Allegedly Issuing Holiday Greetings To Christians

  On December 31, 2024, the Prime Minister’s office in the new Syrian administration, linked to jihadi group Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), announced that all government institutions would be on vacation on January 1-2, 2025, with the exception of ministries and public bodies whose work demands constant activity.[1] The office had …

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• 14 January

  Media Reports: Turkey To Establish New Military Bases In Syria

  Recent reports in the Arabic and Turkish media and social media claim that Turkey intends to establish new military bases in Syria as part of a defense agreement with the new Syrian government formed by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) under the leadership of Ahmed Al-Sharaa (aka Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani). Turkey …

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• 14 January

  The Shadow War

  

  A review of Yonah Jeremy Bob and Ilan Evyatar, “Target Tehran: How Israel Is Using Sabotage, Cyberwarfare, Assassination—and Secret Diplomacy—to Stop a Nuclear Iran and Create a New Middle East” (Simon & Schuster, 2023). “We must possess Syria. If the thread from Lebanon to here is cut, bad events will …

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• 14 January

  6 Kurdish SDF forces killed in Iran-linked attack on Syria base housing US troops

  

  The drone attack left at least six dead among the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. Several US-backed Kurdish forces were killed in a drone attack on a base housing US troops in eastern Syria overnight on Monday, days after the United States launched a series of strikes in Iraq and Syria. …

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• 14 January

  Threat Assessment of Post-Assad Syria’s Impact on Central Asia

  Executive Summary The destabilisation of Syria resulting from the Assad regime’s fall, further complicated by the repatriation of radicalised militants to Central Asia in the last years, constitutes a substantial security risk to the region. Central Asian nationals’ involvement in various Syrian conflict factions and related reintegration efforts reveals the …

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