Links to two reports from the Cradle; others are accessible by clicking on its name below. (Scroll down for LEBANON 12-26-25 or click HERE. Scroll down for GAZA, UKRAINE, WEST BANK, SYRIA and YEMEN.) — MCM

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Lebanese court summons journalist Hassan Illaik over criticism of president. From the Cradle.Prominent Lebanese journalist Hassan Illaik has been summoned for questioning by a court over his recent criticism of comments made by the country’s president, as well as Beirut’s inaction and failure to protect Lebanon from constant Israeli violations. READ MORE . . .

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Dozens displaced by deadly new wave of Israeli strikes on Lebanon. From the Cradle. Scores of Lebanese citizens have been displaced as a result of Israel’s latest wave of airstrikes on southern Lebanon, which were the heaviest in months and resulted in over a dozen casualties. READ MORE . . .

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Links to five reports: from Middle East Eye, the Cradle, and the Associated Press; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (Scroll down for GAZA 1-21-26, and up or down for LEBANON, UKRAINE, WEST BANK, SYRIA and YEMEN.) — MCM

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UK confirms phone call between Cameron and ICC’s Karim Khan, by Sondos Asem and Namir Shabibi | Middle East Eye  LONDON — The UK government has confirmed for the first time a phone call between David Cameron and Karim Khan in which the then British foreign secretary is alleged to have threatened the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court over his investigation into Israeli war crimes in Gaza. READ MORE . . .

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Jared Kushner unveils ‘free market Gaza’ with coastal towers and data centres. From Middle East Eye. Jared Kushner,  U.S. President Donald Trump’s son in law and special envoy, has unveiled a plan to turn Gaza into a region modelled on “free market principles.” READ MORE . . . Click HERE for report from the Cradle.

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People dig through garbage for things to burn to keep warm — a far cry from Trump’s vision, by Toqa Ezzidin and Julia Frankel | AP  CAIRO — At the World Economic Forum in Davos, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that “record levels” of humanitarian aid had entered Gaza since the October start of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal. Son-in law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff touted the devastated territory’s development potential. READ MORE . . .

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Netanyahu skips ‘Board of Peace’ signing in Davos over fears of arrest. From the Cradle. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to attend the signing ceremony for U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” in Switzerland today, over fears he would be arrested for war crimes commited in Gaza if he set foot in the country. READ MORE . . .

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Links to three reports from the Associated Press, and to commentary from Consortium News; other published material is accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (Scroll down for UKRAINE 1-20-26, and up or down for LEBANON, GAZA, WEST BANK, SYRIA and YEMEN.) — MCM

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France’s navy intercepts an oil tanker in the Mediterranean sailing from Russia, by John Leicester | AP PARIS — France’s navy, working with intelligence provided by the United Kingdom, today intercepted an oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea that traveled from Russia, in a mission targeting the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet, officials said. READ MORE . . .

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Zelenskyy slams European response to Russia’s war as Ukraine is caught in its own ‘Groundhog Day,’ by Kamila Hrabchuk and Kostya Manenkov | AP DAVOS, Switzerland — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy today blasted his European allies for what he portrayed as the continent’s slow, fragmented and inadequate response to Russia’s invasion nearly four years ago and its continued international aggression. READ MORE . . .

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FROM JAN. 21  Trump to meet with Zelenskyy as Ukraine endures a bitter winter after Russian attacks, by Kamila Hrabchuk | AP  KYIV — About 4,000 buildings in Kyiv lacked heat Wednesday and nearly 60% of the Ukrainian capital was without power, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, after days of Russian bombardment of Ukraine’s power grid. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish, and HERE for others.

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FROM JAN. 21  All unquiet on the Ukrainian front, by Patrick Lawrence | Special to Consortium News  Sometimes wars have occasions that can be read — immediately, soon or in time — as turning points, clarifying moments. D–Day, June 6, 1944, is an obvious case: The Allies and the Red Army were in Berlin less than   year later. READ MORE . . .

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Links to three reports: from National Public Radio and Middle East Monitor, and to an article of commentary via Consortium News; others are accessible by clicking their names or initials below. (Scroll down for WEST BANK 1-12-26, and up or down for LEBANON, GAZA, UKRAINE, SYRIA and YEMEN.) — MCM

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Israel’s settler movement takes victory lap as a sparse outpost becomes a settlement within a month, by Julia Frankel | AP  YATZIV SETTLEMENT, West Bank — A celebration here on Monday reflected the culmination of Israeli settlers’ long campaign to turn a site overlooking the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour into a settlement. Over the Israeli settlers they fended off plans to build a hospital for Palestinian children on the land, always holding to the hope it would one day become theirs. READ MORE . . .

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FROM JAN. 20  Israeli crews target UN facilities for Palestinian refugees in East Jerusalem, by Sam Metz | AP JERUSALEM — Israeli crews on Tuesday began bulldozing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s offices in Sheikh Jarrah and fired tear gas at a vocational school in Qalandia, marking Israel’s latest and most dramatic step against UNRWA. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish, and HERE for others.

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FROM JAN. 21  Israel’s demolition of Unrwa HQ ‘blatant violation of international law,’ by Sondos Asem | Middle East Eye  Israel’s demolition of a UN headquarters in Jerusalem has been condemned by European governments and described as “a blatant violation” of binding international legal obligations by a lawyer who represented Palestine before the International Court of Justice. READ MORE . . .

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FROM JAN. 20  A war without headlines, by Ramzy Baroud | Common Dreams / Consortium News  Beginning in October 2023, Israel launched an unprecedented campaign of violence across the West Bank. This included . . . READ MORE . . .

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Links to two reports: from the Cradle and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (Scroll down for SYRIA 1-21-25, and up or down for LEBANON, GAZA, UKRAINE, WEST BANK and YEMEN.) — MCM

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Barrack meets SDF leader after giving Damascus ‘green light’ to attack Syria’s Kurdish regions. From the Cradle. U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack announced today he met with Syrian Kurdish leaders in Iraq to discuss the integration of the Kurdish autonomous region in northeast Syria into the Damascus government. READ MORE . . .

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Fighting between Syrian Kurds and state forces leaves huge ISIS camp unguarded. Reported by Jane Arraf | NPR  Security at the biggest ISIS detention camp in Syria has collapsed as Syrian Kurds withdraw to face advancing government forces. Click HERE to listen and read.

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A link to commentary via Informed Comment; others are accessible by clicking on its name below. (Scroll down for YEMEN, 1-13-25. Scroll up for LEBANON, GAZA, UKRAINE, WEST BANK and SYRIA.) — MCM

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FROM JAN. 20  The human costs of imperial ambition, by Jawad Khalid | Informed Comment  The conflict in Yemen, a country already exhausted by more than a decade of war, is entering another uncertain phase. READ MORE . . .

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Links to a report and an article of commentary: from the Cradle and  the Assocated Press; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (Scroll down for SYRIA 1-19-26 and today’s GAZA so far.) — MCM

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Syrian forces enter Al-Hawl Camp, set free thousands of ISIS members. From the Cradle. The Syrian military has entered Hasakah governorate’s Al-Hawl Camp, which for around a decade housed tens of thousands of ISIS prisoners and their families including foreigners who entered Syria illegally to join the U.S.-backed war against former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government. READ MORE . . .

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A U.S. shift marked Kurdish-led forces’ fall from power in Syria, by Abby Sewell | AP  BEIRUT — Two tumultuous weeks saw the fall from power in Syria of the Kurdish-led force that was once the main U.S. partner there, as Washington shifts its backing to the country’s nascent government. READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

For now, links to four reports and one article of commentary: from the Associated Press, National Public Radio, and Middle East Eye; others are accessible by clicking on their initials below. (Scroll down for GAZA 1-19-26. Scroll up for today’s SYRIA so far.) — MCM

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Three journalists among 11 killed by Israel in Gaza bombing, by Hani Abu Rezeq | Middle East Eye  GAZA CITY, occupied Palestine  — Israeli strikes killed at least 11 Palestinians today, including three journalists working for the Egyptian relief committee. READ MORE . . .

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Western European nations divided over Trump’s Board of Peace for Gaza, by Julia Frankel and Samy Magdy | AP  JERUSALEM — Some western European countries have declined to join Donald Trump’s envisioned Board of Peace, while others remained noncommittal. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish, and HERE for others.

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A look at Trump’s Board of Peace and who has been invited, by Julia Frankel | AP  JERUSALEM (AP) — The Board of Peace led by U.S. President Donald Trump was originally envisioned as a small group of world leaders overseeing the Gaza ceasefire plan. Since then, the Trump administration’s ambitions have ballooned into a more sprawling concept. READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish, and HERE for others.

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Former president of Ireland talks about Trump’s plan for his Board of Peace. Leila Fadel of NPR asks Mary Robinson what President Trump’s Board of Peace is actually for. Robinson is a former president of Ireland and a member of The Elders, a group of world leaders who advocate for peace. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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FROM JAN. 20  Trump is running Gaza, and the world, like a mafia boss, by David Hearst | Middle East Eye  Everyone and his dog appears to have been invited on US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” but thus far only Morocco, Albania, Argentina, Hungary and Vietnam have accepted. READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

Links to commentary from Common Dreams and to a report from MintNews; others are accessible by clicking on their names below. (Scroll down for IRAN 1-19-26 and UKRAINE.) — MCM

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FROM JAN. 19  The U.S.-Israel hybrid war against Iran, by Jeffrey D. Sachs and Sybil Fares | Common Dreams  The U.S. and Israel are waging war against Iran through a combination of crushing economic sanctions, targeted military strikes, cyberwarfare, stoking unrest, and unrelenting misinformation campaigns — a combination strategy called “hybrid warfare.” READ MORE . . .    

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FROM JAN. 19  New Mossad recruitment ads exploit Iran’s unrest with help from U.S. comedian, by Max Blumenthal | The Grayzone  Mossad is taking advantage of deadly riots that rocked Iran this month to solicit spies through a series of social media ads. The Israeli intel agency has purchased them through an LLC owned by Atlanta-based standup comic Desi Banks. READ MORE . . .

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Links to two reports: from the Associated Press and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their initials below. (Scroll down for UKRAINE 1-14-26.  Scroll up for IRAN.) — MCM

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Russia batters Ukraine’s power grid again as officials seek momentum in U.S.-led peace talks, by Kamila Hrabchuk | AP  KYIV — Russia bombarded Ukraine with more than 300 drones and ballistic and cruise missiles in its latest nighttime attack on the Ukrainian power grid, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said today, as Moscow gives no public sign that it’s willing to end the invasion of its neighbor anytime soon. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish, and HERE for others.

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Ukraine works to restore power amid freezing temps after Russian strikes. Reported by Joanna Kakissis | NPR  Ukraine is struggling to deal with repeated Russian attacks on the country’s energy grid that left tens of thousands of residents without heat in freezing weather. Click HERE to listen and read.

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