According to police, Anthony Joshua was seriously hurt in a car accident in Nigeria that left two people dead. Joshua, 36, suffered minor wounds before being hospitalized after defeating Jake Paul, a former YouTuber.
Published On 29 Dec 2025
Syria’s coastal regions have experienced a new wave of sectarian upheaval since Bashar al-Assad’s regime was overthrown a year ago.
Unknown assailants threw a hand grenade at the al-Anaza police station in the Tartous governorate on Sunday, while Syrian security forces were targeted with gunfire at the al-Azhari roundabout in Latakia.
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At least eight people were killed on Friday when an Alawite mosque was bombed in Homs, according to al-Assad’s Alawite minority, which organized the protests. They demand political reforms as well as security guarantees.
Questions are raised about whether the interim government can maintain cohesion in a country that is still rife with sectarian violence after 14 years of civil war have plagued several cities along Syria’s Mediterranean coast.
What do the protests actually mean for Syria’s political and social stability, then?
The demonstrations erupted as a result of the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque bombing in Homs’ Wadi al-Dahab neighborhood on Friday.
Saraya Ansar al-Sunna, a little-known organization that claimed the bombing, claimed that it was intended to attack Alawite sect members on its Telegram channel.
Up until the end of al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, Syria’s political and security apparatus was dominated by Alawites.
Additionally, Saraya Ansar al-Sunna had claimed responsibility for the at least 20-person suicide bombing of a Damascus church in June.
The mosque attack was deemed the most recent in a line of “desperate attempts to undermine security and stability and cause chaos among the Syrian people,” according to the Syrian government.
Ghazal Ghazal, an alawite religious figure who resides outside Syria and is unknown about where he is, called for action in particular to compel the protests.
The Supreme Alawite Islamic Council, which he leads in Syria and other countries, is his main organization.
Political federalism is what we want. We want to control our own destiny, according to Ghazal in a Facebook video message in which the authority is divided between the state and the national government.
Additionally, protesters demanded greater security for the Alawite community, accountability for civilian-caused attacks, and political guarantees.
Alawite protesters and counterprotesters supporting the new government clashed in coastal areas, including the cities and wider governorates of Latakia and Tartous.
Counterprotesters reportedly threw rocks at Alawite demonstrators as a group of protesters whipped a counterprotester outside their area, according to Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Latakia.
After “outlaw groups” attacked civilians and security personnel with the aim of regaining stability, Syria’s Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday that army units had moved into these cities’ centers.
According to SANA, the official Syrian news agency, the unrest in Latakia has left four people dead and more than 100 others injured.
According to SANA’s officials, “stabbings, blows from stones, and gunfire that targets both security personnel and civilians” were reported.
One of its security officers was killed in the clashes, according to the Interior Ministry’s report later on Sunday.
Unknown assailants threw a hand grenade at the al-Anaza police station, killing two security personnel in Tartous.
The Alawites, which are the second-largest religion in Syria after Sunni Muslims, are a religious minority there.
Alawites make up 10% of Syria’s 23 million people, but al-Assad, who oversaw its affairs from 2000 until he seized control of the country and heavily recruited Alawite soldiers for his army and security apparatus, had a political majority in this country.
Syria has experienced a number of sectarian atrocities since al-Assad’s overthrow. In March, violence broke out in coastal cities like Latakia, Banias, Tartous, and Jableh, and government-allied organizations were accused of carrying out summary executions, mostly of Alawite civilians.
Around 1,400 people were killed during a number of days of violence, according to a government committee with the responsibility for the investigation.
Although experts claim that the conflict is rooted in more complex issues than just sectarianism, including historical disputes over land, raged up between Druze and Sunni Bedouin communities in the southern governorate of Suwayda in July. Despite local activists and analysts contending that Israel’s intention was to foster internal unrest, the country’s Ministry of Defense and other targets in Damascus were bombed ostensibly to protect the Druze.
Alawites have also voiced grievances about the detention of young Alawite men without charge and discrimination in hiring in the public sector since al-Assad’s fall.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s interim president, has stressed the need for “national unity and domestic harmony.”
Al-Sharaa claimed at the Doha Forum this month that Syria’s residents “simply did not know one another well” as a result of issues the al-Assad regime inherited.
According to Rob Geist Pinfold, a scholar of international security at King’s College London, the country’s persistent sectarian divisions and the central government’s slender authority are generating demands for decentralization from minorities.
Since the fall of al-Assad, the Alawites have been one of the minority’s voices of concern about sectarianism, according to Geist Pinfold.
Despite a March 10 agreement between them that intended for integration, the interim government has yet to integrate regions controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into the new government, he continued.
According to experts, mistrust is largely to blame for this.
Alawites and the Druze are examples of minority groups that “implement don’t think the government has their best interests at heart and see the government as a security threat,” according to Geist Pinfold.
“The government has become complicit in this vicious cycle where it doesn’t trust minority groups,” said Syria. He continued, adding that it is unable to use its “oppressive or repressive way” to “intimidate those minority groups” further.
There may be two possible outcomes over the next few days, according to Geist Pinfold.
According to him, “the positive outcome would be that the Syrian government and the SDF come to terms with a tentative agreement that points to a kind of roadmap for a future integration,” he continued, noting that this would ease tensions not only in eastern Syria but also in other parts of the country.
He did warn that if the violence continued, ethnic and sectarian divisions might grow.
Soldiers were seen shooting down small Russian drones with their rifles in a video that the Ukrainian military had made available near Kostiantynivka, a small village in Donetsk. Russian forces claim on Monday that they have captured nearby Dibrova, making steady but priceless gains in the area.
Published On 29 Dec 2025
Published On 29 Dec 2025
Haybat al-Halbousi has been elected as the new government’s speaker in Iraq, a significant step after months of political unrest.
According to the Taqaddum (Progress) Party, al-Halbousi received 208 votes, a clear victory over two rival candidates who received 66 and nine votes, respectively, according to the media in Iraq on Monday, citing parliament’s media office.
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Sunni heartlands in the west and north of the country are a major source of support for Al-Halbousi’s party.
Iraqis have been eagerly awaited the first session of the country’s parliament, known as the Council of Representatives of Iraq, as they seek certainty over its leadership after the November 11 vote, which created a tense environment for the formation of the new government.
In its first session, parliament elects a consensus Sunni candidate along with two deputies under Iraq’s customary muhasasa system, which has been in place since the first government under the post-2003 constitution.
A Kurdish candidate will be chosen as the winner, according to Muhasasa. The president then chooses the Shia Coordination Framework (SCF) candidate for prime minister.
The Federal Supreme Court (FSC) ratified the results more quickly than usual before the election, prompting Supreme Judicial Council President Faiq Zaidan to urge lawmakers to adhere to the maximum 90-day constitutional deadline for government formation.
Few people, however, anticipate a quick conclusion. There are questions about who the SCF will choose as the ideal candidate for prime minister, which process typically lasts months (more than 300 days in 2021).
Former prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ran an independent electoral list that won about 46 out of 329 seats for his Reconstruction and Development Coalition (RDC), despite having been nominated by the SCF four years prior.
However, he was turned back to the SCF and its leadership, many of whom are external power brokers and do not hold any parliamentary seats.
As the SCF considers how to respond to the growing parliamentary presence of lawmakers affiliated with Shia parties with pro-Iran and pro-West armed wings, it is now up to question whether it supports al-Sudani or an alternative candidate for prime minister.
80 to 90 of the 180 SCF members are members of armed organizations close to Iran, the majority of whom are subject to US sanctions. These organizations only had 17 seats in the Senate in 2021.
Published On 29 Dec 2025
As a result of criticism from Myanmar’s main pro-military party, critics claim that the tightly controlled vote is intended to strengthen the ruling party’s position. The country’s military rulers have already seized the lead in the first phase of elections.
On January 11 and January 25, the first round of voting will take place on Sunday. In 65 townships, voting has been canceled.
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In townships where counting had been completed, a senior official from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) claimed victory over 82 of the 102 seats in the lower house of the legislature, suggesting it had secured more than 80% of the seats contested on Sunday.
The party also won all eight townships in Naypyidaw, the party’s main town, the official added. The Union Election Commission of Myanmar has not yet released official statistics.
Campaign groups have criticised candidate lists that are dominated by figures affiliated with the military, while the UN’s human rights chief has criticized the elections.
Only about a third of Myanmar’s 330 townships were able to vote in the elections, which is because of fighting between the military and opposition forces following the military coup that overthrew the Aung San Suu Kyi-led government in 2021.
The USDP is anticipated to be the party with the most support. It has long been viewed as a civilian replacement for the military by analysts.
The USDP lost significantly to Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) in the previous elections held in 2020. Campaigners in the United Kingdom claim that the NLD is one of the 40 political parties that the military has outlawed. Since the military seized power, Suu Kyi has been in custody.
The military government’s leader, Min Aung Hlaing, said it was possible to trust the military to appoint a civilian-led government after the election ended on Sunday. Since the coup, he has been in power by decree.
As pro-democracy activists formed armed resistance groups alongside ethnic minority forces that have long fought the central government, the military takeover sparked a nationwide civil war.
Shopkeepers in the Jomhouri neighborhood of the capital’s Jomhouri neighborhood canceled their businesses on Sunday and chanted slogans before recording more incidents on Monday afternoon, this time with other people posing as participants.
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More gatherings were reported in the same area, as well as other nearby Tehran-arean neighbourhoods, according to videos that were circulating on social media. Demonstrators chanted, “Don’t be afraid, we are together.”
On the streets, there was a significant amount of anti-riot police deployed in full gear, with numerous videos demonstrating how tear gas was used and people were forced to disperse.
In and around Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, many businesses were shut down by owners, with some videos revealing business owners asking others to do the same.
State media outlets acknowledged the protests, but quickly responded by stating that the shopkeepers are only concerned with the state’s economic situation and have no reservations about the theocratic establishment, which has been in power since a 1979 revolution that ended Iran’s US-backed shah.
The government’s IRNA news agency claimed that mobile phone vendors were angry after their businesses were threatened by the unchecked rial depreciation.
On Monday, the rial regained some ground after posting yet another record-breaking US dollar high of over $1.42 million before regaining some ground.
The issue is not just with the money, though. Iran has long been dealing with an even worse energy crisis that has frequently resulted in deadly air pollution that kills thousands of people annually.
In the face of a water crisis, the majority of the dams that feed Tehran and many of Iran’s major cities are still almost empty. One of the world’s most censored internet landscapes is located in Iran.
Iran’s purchasing power is continuing to decline as a result of growing pressure from the US, Israel, and their allies in Europe over Iran’s nuclear program.
In a 12-day conflict that included civilians, dozens of top military and intelligence commanders, and nuclear scientists, Israel and the US attacked Iran in June.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was in charge of the majority of Iran’s nuclear facilities, which were severely damaged or destroyed by the attacks. Since the West has put more pressure on the watchdog, it has been denied entry to the bombed sites. There is currently no diplomatic solution.
In 2022 and 2023, there were last nationwide demonstrations in Iran, with many thousands of people lining the streets of the country following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was taken into police custody for allegedly breaking strict Islamic laws governing headcarves.
In connection with the protests before they subsided, hundreds of people were killed, over 20 000 people were detained, and several were executed. Authorities blame “rioters” trying to destabilize the nation, as they did with previous demonstrations.
President Masoud Pezeshkian portrayed the situation as bleak in parliament on Sunday to defend the contentious budget bill that his administration has proposed.
His highly inconvenient budget proposal proposes a 20% increase in wages while inflation, which has consistently been among the highest in the world over the past few years, is currently at around 50%. The price increase is anticipated to be 62% higher.