As Syria’s army continues to occupy more of the territory held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the US has begun moving detainees linked to ISIL (ISIS) from northeastern Syria to Iraq.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the US military announced the transfer of 150 detainees to a secure location in Iraq from a detention facility in Hasakah, Syria.
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The transfer comes as the government of Syria expands its purview over previously held Kurdish regions of northeastern Syria, including several camps and prisons where ISIL fighters and their families are housed.
These facilities were previously controlled and managed by the SDF.
The SDF withdrew from several locations, including al-Hol camp, Syria’s largest camp for relatives of ISIL fighters, as government forces advanced. Late on Tuesday, the government made a new ceasefire with the SDF.
Up to 7, 000 people with alleged ISIL connections could be transferred to Iraqi-controlled facilities, according to the US military.
The Iraqi government and other regional partners are working closely together, and we sincerely appreciate their efforts to end ISIS, according to US Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US forces in the Middle East.
He added that facilitating the detainee’s safe transfer is essential to preventing large-scale breakouts that could threaten US and regional security directly.
The US special envoy to Syria announced the announcement a day after the SDF, which had been in that position for years, declared that the Syrian government would be its main partner in the fight against ISIL.
After monitoring the security developments taking place in Syria and the effects of changes in the security situation there, “especially with regard to control over detained terrorists,” Iraq later stated it had approved the move.
According to Sabah al-Numan, the chief commander of the armed forces, the National Security Council “approved of Iraq’s reception of terrorists of Iraqi nationality as well as other nationalities who were detained in prisons previously under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces.”
These detainees will be moved to government-run correctional facilities, according to the statement. 150 terrorist elements, both domestics and foreigners who participated in the bloodletting of innocent Iraqis have already been received.
A youth organization in the Palestinian Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem, occupied West Bank, has refuted reports that Israel has suspended plans to destroy a nearby football pitch, claiming that it has not been given any formal notice to do so.
The Aida Youth Centre’s head, Munther Amira, stated on Wednesday that no formal document had been provided to confirm reports that Israel had responded to international pressure and had suspended the demolition order.
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Reports suggested that Israel had acted in response to international football associations FIFA and UEFA, which oversee the country’s football stadium, to prevent the planned demolition of the pitch, which is near Israel’s border with Bethlehem.
Amira stated that neither the court nor the Israeli government have provided any official confirmation of this information. These remain unconfirmed media reports with no official basis for Aida camp, the youth center, and the Aida sports team.
Palestinian children and boys play football on Friday, December 26, 2025, at a pitch in the West Bank city of Bethlehem next to Israel’s separation wall.
“Save the Pitch,” please.
In an effort to stop Israel from imposing the demolition order on the refugee camp’s only sporting facility, the Aida Youth Centre launched a global campaign called “Save the Pitch” in recent weeks.
The pitch’s manager, Amira, claimed uncertainty has plagued the area since November.
After storming the camp and placing the notice on the pitch’s main gate, Israeli occupation forces issued the first demolition order against the football pitch on November 3.
According to him, the first demolition order referenced “security concerns,” claiming that the pitch posed a threat because it was close to the camp’s illegal separation wall.
Amira said, “We’ve been living on edge since we’ve had to demolish the pitch, which represents hope for more than 250 camp children and young people,” repeatedly.
He added that Israel, which holds the leasehold to the pitch and issued a second demolition order on December 31 before the refugee camp’s Popular Committee for Services petitioned an Israeli court, decided to postpone the demolition until January 18.
Amira explained that the center was given an additional seven days to carry out the demolition themselves by the Israeli army.
Amira claimed that this would not occur because they told us to either destroy the pitch ourselves or to force us to do it.
A deal with the Bethlehem Municipality, according to Saeed al-Azzha, the head of Aida’s Popular Committee for Services, allowed the use of the land to construct a football field, a theater, and a public garden. Israel prevented the construction of the garden and the pitch, according to him, but the committee constructed both the pitch and the theater.
Al-Azzha emphasized that the pitch was constructed legally on leased land held by the Armenian Church.
Palestinian youths practice football on a field close to the Israeli-occupied separation wall [Mahmoud Illean/AP Photo]
Palestinian sport is being targeted.
The demolition order violates the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Israel has ratified, and prevents hundreds of children from exercising their right to play sports and develop in a safe and healthy environment, according to the Palestinian Football Association (PFA).
The PFA claimed that the decision is a result of what it called an Israeli-style Israeli policy that targets Palestinian sports, which has resulted in the total or partial destruction of almost 300 sports facilities.
The demolition order caused deep sadness in the AOD football team from the Aida Youth Centre.
Rimas Sarhan, 18, said, “I started my sporting life and playing football on this pitch.”
“I can’t believe that Israel has chosen to destroy it,” I said. Why is it asked? What danger does this pitch present?” she stated.
Mohammed Jadou, a 10-year-old, also has issues with the choice. During a training session, he said, “I don’t understand why the Israeli army wants to destroy the pitch.” We don’t hurt anyone, they say. Where will we play if they don’t demolish it, I hope?
There is still a lingering concern that Israel will be motivated to target more sports facilities in the occupied West Bank, where it has conducted nearly daily military raids for the past three years.
Anan Shehadeh, a journalist for Palestinian sport, told Al Jazeera that Israel has long seen Palestinian sport as a vehicle for political expression and national identity, able to show the world the Palestinian story.
He recalls that Israel had threatened to destroy it before the opening of Majed Asad Stadium on April 14, 2011, which was attended by Sepp Blatter, the then-President of FIFA.
He claimed that “at the time, international and legal efforts prevented that demolition.” However, Israeli threats now cover almost every sports facility in Palestine.
Shehadeh continued, “Israel targets the Palestinian sporting spirit when it targets sport.” It aims to “push young people into dangerous environments and stop them from serving as ambassadors for their country.”
Shehadeh claimed that Israel’s genocidal war on the Strip had also devastated the Palestinian sport industry in Gaza.
He claimed that the sports infrastructure in Gaza has been almost completely destroyed over the past two years, while that in the West Bank have been heavily targeted through arrests and checkpoints.
Shehadeh cited the Palestinian national football team’s impressive recent performances as evidence that “despite all these measures, Israel has not yet abandoned sport.”
Rimas Sarhan, 18, is unable to comprehend why Israel wants to destroy the football field on which she practices in Aida [Monjed Jadou/Al Jazeera].
appeals to international sports organizations
Israeli athletics have been suspended since the start of the war, activities have been cut to a minimum, and there has been a significant decline in performance across many sports and national teams, according to Nader al-Jayousi, the technical director of the Palestine Olympic Committee.
According to al-Jayousi, “We are seeing growing engagement among Palestinian athletes.” Stopping sport would mean destroying hope, according to the saying, “We must preserve hope and continue it.”
He added that Palestinian authorities have reached out to international sporting organizations, providing evidence of Israeli violations of Palestinian sport in the hands of FIFA and other international organizations.
When the 2026 cast concludes, Traitors legend Paul Gorton has predicted that Stephen and Matty will “have the best couple of years” in mind.
3 images to be seen
One of the stars who is anticipated to succeed is Stephen (Image:)
When the castle doors shut, we’ll soon be wondering what will happen to our Faithfuls and Traitors with only a few days left in the 2026 series. After Friday’s final, series two star Paul Gorton has predicted who will succeed in the series, tipping Matty Hyndman and Stephen Libby for even more fame.
Paul made it to the penultimate week of series two as a Traitor and has since appeared on Celebrity Antiques Road Trip, Celebrity Mastermind, Morning Live and will be teaming up with Vernon Kay for new BBC daytime show Do You Know Your Place. He’s not the only one, with Harry Clark, Mollie Pearce, Minah Shannon and Francesca Rowan-Plowden among landing gigs in TV and radio after the show.
Predicting who is set to lead careers in the spotlight after The Traitors, Paul said that he can see Stephen and Matty finding success in the content creator world – which is where stars are making big money. “If you look at their Instagram, they’re so aesthetically pleasing,” he told The Mirror in an exclusive chat.
READ MORE: Claudia’s fury as Matthew is banished from The Traitors and regrets ‘mistakes’READ MORE: Alan Carr and Amanda Holden eye up bizarre new career move after turning down Strictly
“I can’t see them going into presenting, but look at people like Angry Ginge because they have a lot of money and viewers,” said one viewer. He continued, noting that Matty and Stephen both speaking out against the ban on conversation therapy while Stephen was open about coming to terms with being gay on the Isle of Lewes.
“I believe they will both have documentaries produced because they have both experienced verytraumatic religious experiences, so there may be a point,” he said.
“I am aware that Matty founded a group about conversion therapy, and Stephen wanted to pray himself ‘normal’ just because he was gay when he was younger. So I can see them both getting on the air and telling stories about that.
He added, “This is one of The Traitors’ biggest shows yet,” which could make stars for a lot of contestants. “People are growing in size. Stephen, who I believe has nearly 200, 000 followers, started off with a very small following, he claimed.
Continue reading the article.
“They will have opportunities in front of them because they have big, beautiful personalities, whether or not they like it.” If all of them can have the same amount of success as me and Harry Clark did after their first season, then they’ll have the best couple of years.
Tonight, The Traitors airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 8 p.m.
The Traitors legend Paul Gorton has revealed what the 2026 cast have in store for them when the series ends, predicting that Stephen and Matty will “have the best couple of years”
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With just a few days left of The Traitors’ 2026 series, we’ll soon be wondering what’s next for our Faithfuls and Traitors once the castle doors close. Now, series two star Paul Gorton has given his predictions as to who’ll find success after Friday’s final – tipping Stephen Libby and Matty Hyndman for even more fame.
Paul made it to the penultimate week of series two as a Traitor and has since appeared on Celebrity Antiques Road Trip, Celebrity Mastermind, Morning Live and will be teaming up with Vernon Kay for new BBC daytime show Do You Know Your Place. He’s not the only one, with Harry Clark, Mollie Pearce, Minah Shannon and Francesca Rowan-Plowden among landing gigs in TV and radio after the show.
Predicting who is set to lead careers in the spotlight after The Traitors, Paul said that he can see Stephen and Matty finding success in the content creator world – which is where stars are making big money. “If you look at their Instagram, they’re so aesthetically pleasing,” he told The Mirror in an exclusive chat.
READ MORE: Claudia’s fury as Matthew is banished from The Traitors and regrets ‘mistakes’READ MORE: Alan Carr and Amanda Holden eye up bizarre new career move after turning down Strictly
“I can’t see them going into presenting but in this day and age, the money and viewership is in the content creator world – look at people like Angry Ginge.” He added that he can also see them making documentaries, with Stephen being open about struggling with coming to terms with being gay on the Isle of Lewes and Matty advocating for the banning of conversation therapy.
“I think they’re both going to have maybe documentaries made because they’ve both gone through very traumatic experiences through religion so maybe there’s an angle there,” he said.
“I know Matty founded a group about conversion therapy and Stephen, when he was younger, he wanted to pray himself ‘normal’, just because he was gay. So I can see them both doing stories about that and getting on the telly.”
However, he added that with this series being one The Traitors’ biggest yet, it could make stars of lots of contestants. “People are getting massive. I think Stephen has nearly 200,000 followers and he started with a really low amount,” he said.
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“Whether they like it or not, they will have opportunities put in front of them because they’ve got big, beautiful personalities. I want every success for all of them because if they can have half the ride that me and Harry Clark have had coming out of the show, then they’re going to have the best couple of years.”
The Traitors continues tonight at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Despite criticism from White House AI tsar David Sacks and a social media campaign against the legislation, the United States House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee overwhelmingly voted to advance a bill that would give Congress more authority over artificial intelligence chip exports.
After US President Donald Trump approved shipments of Nvidia’s potent H200 AI chips to China, Republican Representative Brian Mast of Florida, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced the “AI Overwatch Act.”
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The legislation would allow the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Banking Committee to review and potentially halt permits issued to export advanced AI chips to China and other adversaries after passing the full house and Senate.
According to the bill, those “countries of concern” also include nations besides China, such as Venezuela, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Iran.
Additionally, the US Department of Commerce is required to provide lawmakers with a detailed, thorough application that demonstrates that adversarial countries’ use of the chips will not be used for military, intelligence, or surveillance operations in the US.
According to one source, a coordinated media campaign last week increased the bill’s chances of passing.
At a session on Wednesday before the committee vote, Mast stated that “these advanced chips must fall under the same oversight as any other military-related system.” The future of military conflict is the subject, according to the author.
The act will “slow China’s progress in developing AI that could rival US capabilities,” according to the tech advocacy group Americans for Responsible Innovation, which has been pushing for it for a fact sheet.
When Mast first introduced the bill late last year, Mast stated in a release that “America must win the AI arms race.”
White House retaliation
Sacks and the White House’s press office declined to respond to requests for comment.
Sacks claimed in a post from an X account called “Wall Street Mav” that the bill was being orchestrated by “Never Trumpers” and former Joe Biden staffers, undermining Trump’s authority and his America First strategy.
Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, claimed he had hired former Biden employees to raise the issue.
Sacks called it “Correct.”
The claims and the bill were not addressed by an Anthropic spokesperson. However, Amodei has been open about preventing China from receiving cutting-edge chips like the H200.
Amodei said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, that shipping these chips would be a big mistake. “I believe this is crazy,” she said. It’s similar to giving North Korea nuclear weapons.
Last week, conservative activist Laura Loomer, among others, wrote on X criticizing the bill, calling it “pro-China sabotage disguised as oversight.”
Mast and other committee members voted against the online threats before the vote.
Representative Michael McCaul, a Republican congressman from Texas, claimed that there are special interest groups that are currently raising millions of dollars with the very people who will profit from the sale of these chips and other companies that are “waging a social media campaign war” against this bill. Shame on them, I say.
3, 117 people were killed during the crackdown, according to Iranian state television, the first official death toll from the country’s recent anti-government demonstrations.
Iran’s Martyrs Foundation reported on Wednesday that 2, 427 of the protesters’ victims were civilians and security forces, according to a statement released by Press TV.
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4, 251 protesters, 197 security personnel, 35 people under the age of 18, and 38 bystanders, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), were among the victims of the wave of demonstrations.
Additionally, HRANA noted that there were nine 049 more deaths being looked into.
The demonstrations grew into a pervasive antigovernment movement that started in late December with shopkeepers protesting the dollar’s fluctuating currency exchange rate and living costs.
This image, taken while on a tour for foreign media, shows journalists escorting the recently defaced Beheshti Mosque in Tehran.
The protests were deemed by Iranian authorities to be “terrorist” incidents, and US officials claimed the US had fueled the violent “riots.”
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, threatened to intervene in support of the protesters after the government’s crackdown was widely condemned.
Some human rights organizations claim that security forces opened fire on protesters.
Amnesty International claimed in a report that it had found Iranian security forces posing with rifles and shotguns loaded with metal pellets, frequently aimed at unarmed people’s heads and torsos, on streets and rooftops.
tensions between the US and Iran
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi argued in an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that Iran would demand “respect” for Iran rather than resist an attack.
Our powerful armed forces, unlike Iran’s demonstrated restraint in June 2025, are unconcerned to fire back with everything they have if they are under renewed attack, he said.
“A full-fledged conflict will undoubtedly be vicious and drag on for a lot longer than the fantasy timelines that Israel and its proxies are trying to sell to the White House. It will undoubtedly engulf the region and affect ordinary people all over the world, Araghchi added.
Trump reportedly said in an interview with News Nation on Tuesday that if Iran were to succeed in killing the president, it would be “off the face of this earth.”
“I have very clear instructions,” I said. In a news interview that aired on Tuesday, Trump said, “If anything happens, they’re going to wipe them off the face of this earth.”
