Spotlight
French aircraft have bombed Islamic State positions in Syria, Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Tuesday, in its first such strike on the country's soil since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
"Our armed forces remain engaged in battling terrorism in the Levant," Lecornu wrote on X while on a New Year visit to French U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon.

Turkey is prepared to export electricity to Lebanon and Syria to assist them in addressing power shortages, Turkey’s energy minister said, adding that a Turkish delegation was already in Damascus to evaluate Syria’s energy infrastructure.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar also said Monday that the Turkish delegation included experts who would be assessing how Syria’s oil and natural gas could be used to improve the economy.

Syria on Monday appointed its first female interim Central Bank governor, as the country navigates through recovering its battered economy after the downfall of the Assad dynasty’s rule.
Maysaa Sabreen is the second woman appointed in a leadership role under Ahmad al-Sharaa and his Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led Assad's ouster in an offensive in early December.

Syria’s new government said it deployed dozens of soldiers in the Damascus suburb of Adra on Monday in search of alleged militiamen loyal to ousted President Bashar Assad, with military police vehicles seen transporting detainees.
“A security campaign was carried out in Adra town which led to the arrest of the militia leaders in the area,” said Abu Yaarub, a security official who did not give his full name in accordance with regulations. He added that five top militiamen were detained.

Wounded Palestinians who Israeli soldiers expelled from a northern Gaza hospital over the weekend described harrowing conditions where they were forced to strip down to their underwear in cold winter weather for hours.
“They surrounded the hospital at 4 a.m. and burned all the buildings around the hospital,” said Wissam Warsh, a 45-year-old father of five who spent almost a week at Kamal Adwan Hospital receiving treatment. He said soldiers made the hospital director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, bring all the patients outside before detaining him.

Israel’s military said it intercepted a missile fired toward the country by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, setting off sirens late Monday in central Israel including Tel Aviv. There were no reports of injuries from Magen David Adom, Israel’s rescue service.
The Houthis have been firing drones and missiles at Israel as well as attacking shipping in the Red Sea corridor — attacks they say won’t stop until Israel agrees to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Iran's security chief Ali Akbar Ahmadian said a new group would emerge in Syria to fight Israel following the fall of president Bashar al-Assad, state media reported.
"With the occupation of Syrian territories by the Zionist regime, a new resistance has been born that will manifest itself in the years to come," said Ahmadian, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, IRNA news agency reported late Monday.

A Syria war monitor said 31 combatants had been killed since Sunday in ongoing battles between Turkey-backed groups and Kurdish-led forces.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga urged new Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa on Monday to expel Russia from the country during an unannounced visit to Damascus.

Germany's federal prosecutor on Monday charged an Iraqi couple with enslavement, torture and war crimes, alleging they kept two young Yazidi girls as slaves and sexually and physically abused them.
The man and the woman, identified only as Twana H.S. and Asia R.A. in line with German privacy rules, were arrested in Bavaria in April.
