The head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies speaks about US aid cuts, aid worker abuse, and whether neutrality can survive contemporary wars.
Published On 18 Jan 2026
The West Midlands Police Chief Craig Guildford resigned following the UK’s decision to forbid Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from a game against Aston Villa last year. Despite the police’s own investigation, a government report found that bias and inaccuracies were a factor in the police’s decision to ban fans in Amsterdam despite their violent behavior.
Published On 18 Jan 2026
The largest island in the world, Greenland, which is currently a semi-autonomous unit within the Kingdom of Denmark, has been threatened publicly for more than a year by US President Donald Trump. By the time you read this, the threats appear to be getting worse, and they might even be getting worse.
I am the Danish parliament’s Folketing and Enhedslisten, the left-wing Red-Green Alliance’s foreign affairs spokesperson. In no way do we as a party care about the possibility of Greenland’s continued “Danish rule.” We support the 57, 000 Greenlanders’ right to choose their future and form alliances, which is evident in the constitution.
Denmark, a former colonial power, bears a sizable burden of historical responsibility and guilt to help Greenlanders create their own democracy, sustainable economy, and statehood vision.
Greenland and Denmark must unite to combat external dominance and aggression. The right of the people of Greenland to self-determination and the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark are both in danger. Trump is not attempting to liberate the Palestinians, Venezuelans, or Greenlanders. He is pursuing self-interest and dominance.
Trump’s actions in Venezuela demonstrated his total disregard for international law and state sovereignty. Silence over such flagrant violations will undoubtedly open the door for the next organized crime plot driven by his or her own desire to conquer other nations.
This world’s bullies don’t respect appeasement and bootlicking. Trump also acts cruelly. Any political leader who is determined to uphold a rules-based global order should be asked to say “no” with a clear “no.”
What the world witnessed in Caracas does not suggest that other states that belong to a superpower’s self-declared sphere of interest will benefit. Trump will obviously rule and “run” his “backyard,” which includes both Venezuela and Greenland because he has the means to do so.
The US is not permitted to impose itself on other nations. Trump’s actions are not in any way justified by the fact that the Venezuelan president’s regime presided over a severe economic crisis and was responsible for widespread poverty, oppression, and electoral fraud. The supporters of and support Maduro’s kidnapping contribute to furthering the international rules-based order and invite Trump and other cynical strongmen to do the same, including in Greenland.
The rules-based global order that we used to believe had been based on limiting power with legal means, ensuring state sovereignty, and protecting people from oppression and state abuse. Without being upheld and upheld, these established standards for peaceful international coexistence lose their relevance, which has uncountable repercussions for stability and peace. We are aware that Western nations have imposed them with a very limited degree of care. A stark illustration of Israel’s colonization and genocide in Palestine.
In Washington’s new National Security Strategy, it is clear that the United States has the right to assert its supreme political, economic, and military positions in the world and specifically in the Western Hemisphere. Trump proudly referenced the “Donroe Doctrine” at his Mar-a-Lago press conference on January 3 and laid out a foreign policy strategy to defend US dominance from any conceivable threat. The consequences are feared by both us and Greenlanders.
Only dominant and autocratic countries with imperial ambitions, which vested in other nations and their resources in vain, stand to gain from the current state of the world order. These countries want more land to demonstrate their size and strength. They use force to overthrow other nations and their natural resources because they can and because we let them.
The end result is lawlessness in a world where “might is right” and where every person in small and medium-sized countries is increasingly insecure.
Greenland, a former Danish colony, has a constitutionally democratic government under the form of a Naalakkersuisut government and an Inatsisartut parliament.
Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the prime minister of Greenland, has repeatedly emphasized that neither he nor his government are interested in becoming US citizens or even being a part of it.
If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark right now, we choose Denmark, he said at a press conference in Copenhagen on January 13.
Given that the US does not have a free higher education system like Greenland does, this is understandable. The Greenlanders have, without a doubt, taken note of the country’s poor record regarding the respect for indigenous peoples like the Native Americans and the Alaskan Inuits.
Trump will continue to “getting” Greenland through brutal coercion, military, political, and economic threats, among others.
It is no longer necessary to walk on eggshells or try to flatter Trump because of the security situation in Europe and Greenland. The Kingdom of Denmark, the other Nordic nations, and any other country in Europe and elsewhere that respects the rules-based global order will need to reevaluate their strategy and recognize the value of strategic autonomy or independence from the US.
This requires a consistent approach to avoiding purchasing American weapons, including fighter jets, which Denmark regrettably purchased in 2025. Additionally, it means severing ties between intelligence cooperation and creating online platforms and media that are currently largely in Trump’s hands. Our democracies must be safeguarded.
Our party calls on all progressive organizations in Europe and other countries to unite and mobilize in a joint effort to fight the imperial and neocolonial goals of global reshaping.
We need to press political leaders around the world to reject American appeasement and consent and to consistently support international law, the UN Charter, and the right to self-determination.
This is the current equivalent of battle.
Controversial figures like Tony Blair and Jared Kushner have been appointed as top officials in US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” to oversee the post-war transition in Gaza. Israel has also raised objections, despite the US-led body’s critics’ concerns that it would silence Palestinian voices.
Published On 18 Jan 2026
After capturing Tabqa, the northern strategic city and its military airport on the Euphrates River, in a lightning offensive, the Syrian army is moving towards Raqqa, the stronghold of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), headed there.
Government forces captured the Euphrates Dam, also known as the Tabqa Dam, about 50km (31 miles) west of Raqqa city, after heavy fighting with SDF forces. In Raqqa governorate, which has been under the control of the SDF since 2015, government forces have amassed large amounts of military equipment.
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After talks to enlist the Kurdish fighters in Syria’s national army were unsuccessful, fighting broke out between the army and SDF forces in Aleppo on January 6. The SDF’s heavy weapons were to be laid down and handed over control of Aleppo’s regions to the national army by the end of the month’s conflict.
So what’s the latest situation on the ground? Will the Syrian army’s offensive increase the conflict in northern Syria?
About 40 kilometers (24 miles) west of Raqqa, the Syrian army seized control of Tabqa on Sunday. Additionally, it seized the Freedom Dam and the largest Euphrates Dam in the nation, which is adjacent to the strategic city, as well as the largest Baath Dam.
Government-allied groups said they have taken control of the Asayish headquarters, the security and police force in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, in the town of Markada while tribal fighters allied with the government have taken control of several major oil- and gasfields in the northeast, including Jafra and Conoco located in Deir Az Zor province bordering Iraq.
According to the Reuters news agency, Syrian forces seized the Rasafa and Sufyan oilfields in Raqqa, which could now be returned to production.
The SDF was accused of using drones in areas east of Deir Az Zor, another SDF stronghold in the northeast, by Syrian state media on Sunday.
Video clips and live footage published on social media and verified by Al Jazeera show celebrations in the cities of Hajin and al-Shuhayl in the eastern countryside of Deir Az Zor after news of the withdrawal of the SDF from the area. As fighting continues to rage, the Deir Az Zor governorate has ordered the closure of all public buildings for the safety of the residents.
After the recent rapid territorial gains, Syrian police spokesman Noureddine al-Baba informed Al Jazeera that police have secured all of the country’s captured areas.
On Saturday, the SDF withdrew from Deir Hafer and some surrounding villages in Aleppo governorate that are home to predominantly Arab populations, after which Syrian forces moved in, triggering celebrations. About 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Aleppo city lies Deir Hafer.
According to Hussein al-Khalaf, a Deir Hafer resident, “it happened with the least amount of losses.” “There’s been enough blood in this country, Syria. Too much has been sacrificed and lost. It’s getting old for everyone.
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, affiliated with the SDF, on Saturday accused the Syrian government of violating a withdrawal agreement, saying it “attacked our forces on multiple fronts since yesterday morning”. Raqqa’s attacks, which are a source of thousands of ISIL (ISIS) detainees, may pose a security risk, according to the SDF.
Nearly four years after the armed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, the US-backed SDF, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, was established. Al-Assad remained in power until he was ousted in December 2024 by Syrian opposition fighters led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, who is now interim president.
According to the Syrian Ministry of Information, Tom Barrack, the US envoy for Syria, will visit Damascus on Sunday for a meeting with Mazloum Abdi and al-Sharaa.
The rift between al-Sharaa’s government, which has pledged to reunify Syria after 14 years of war, and distrustful Kurdish authorities has grown as a result of the renewed fighting. On Friday al-Sharaa issued a decree declaring Kurdish a “national language” and granting the minority group official recognition.
Northern Syria’s largest oil- and gasfields are located in Raqqa, which has an Arab-majority governorate.
Kurdish anxieties have been sharpened by sectarian bloodshed last year when almost 1, 500 Alawites were killed by pro-government forces in western Syria and hundreds of Druze were killed in clashes in the south.
Arab civilians gathered in the streets to celebrate the victory of the Syrian army in these areas.
This demonstrated the SDF’s social and demographic fragility. Now the question is, will the SDF see this reality and agree to demands by Damascus to integrate into the Syrian state”, Omer Ozkizilcik from the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs said.
Syrian affairs analyst Omar Abu Layla claimed that the Damascus authorities “didn’t listen to him” despite making numerous attempts to negotiate with the SDF.
Abu Layla claimed that the central government had made numerous offers to the SDF, but that the organization “wasted time,” assuming Damascus’s authorities were weak, and that almost a year had passed since a March agreement that would have allowed the SDF’s forces to be integrated into the regular army.
“What]we] are witnessing now in the region is the end of the SDF”, he argued.
Abdi and al-Sharaa reached an agreement on March 10.
The agreement emphasised the unity of Syria and stipulated that “all civil and military institutions in northeastern Syria” be merged “into the administration of the Syrian state, including border crossings, the airport and oil and gas fields”.
Additionally, the agreement stated that the Kurdish people have guaranteed constitutional rights and are a part of Syria.
After the SDF and Syrian army’s agreement was broken, intense fighting broke out in Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighbourhoods last month. A US-brokered ceasefire took effect on January 10.
The Kurdish nationalist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been fighting the Turkish state for decades, has ties to the SDF’s secular Kurdish leadership. The PKK is still listed by Turkiye, the European Union, and the US as a “terrorist” group despite the announcement it made in May to lay down its weapons and disband.
Despite this, the US backed the SDF because it was an effective partner against ISIL, which the SDF and a US-led coalition defeated in northeastern Syria by 2019.
Washington has urged Syria’s army to halt its incursion into Kurdish-held territory.
Admiral Brad Cooper, who is in charge of US Central Command, which oversees the US military’s Middle East operations, wrote in a statement published on X that the Syrian army should “cease any offensive actions in areas” between Aleppo city and Tabqa.
West of Tabqa, Aleppo is roughly 160 kilometers (100 miles).
Cooper argued that working together with US and coalition forces is necessary to pursue ISIS and apply relentless military pressure to Syrian partners. “A Syria at peace with itself and its neighbors is essential to peace and stability across the region”.
Former US diplomat and professor William Laurence said: “The US will have to work very hard to resolve the political impasse between Syria’s government and the SDF.
Trump wants the “quick fix,” and he wants Tom Barrack to “kind of wave a magic wand and get what he wants. But that’s not really how things work”, Laurence told Al Jazeera.
Trust-building is essential to sustainable solutions, and we haven’t had much of it.
After fierce clashes earlier this month, al-Sharaa issued a decree on Friday formally recognising Kurdish as a “national language” and restoring citizenship to all Kurdish Syrians.
After fighting broke out in Aleppo on January 6, at least 22 people were killed and 173 were hurt.
The decree recognizes Kurdish Syrians’ identity as a component of Syria’s national fabric among other rights. It designates Kurdish as a national language alongside Arabic and allows schools to teach it.
Additionally, it repeals measures that date back to a 1962 census in Hasakah province, which granted citizenship to all affected residents, including those who had previously been declared stateless, after the census.
The decree declares that the Kurdish New Year’s holiday, Newroz, is paid for the country. It bans ethnic or linguistic discrimination, requires state institutions to adopt inclusive national messaging and sets penalties for incitement to ethnic strife.
The Kurdish government in Syria’s north and northeast responded to the decree, saying that while it was “a first step, it does not fulfill the aspirations and hopes of the Syrian people.”
A decree formally recognizing Kurdish as a national language and granting citizenship to all Syrian Kurds has been signed by President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Published On 18 Jan 2026