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Middle East
A member of the Syrian security forces gestures next to a vehicle at the entrance of the Druze town of Jaramana, following deadly clashes sparked by a purported recording of a Druze man cursing the Prophet Mohammad, which angered Sunni gunmen southeast of Damascus, Syria, on April 29, 2025.
10: At least 10 people were killed in sectarian clashes outside Damascus late Monday. The firefight erupted between pro-government Sunni fighters and gunmen belonging to the Druze minority after a Druze cleric was blamed for an audio recording that insulted the Prophet Muhammad. Containing sectarian violence is a top concern for the post-Assad government as it seeks to rebuild the war-torn country. In response to the violence and threats against the Druze minority, Israel conducted what it called a “warning operation” on Wednesday, targeting an armed group in Syria’s Damascus province.
24-36: Pakistan’s information minister claimed on Tuesday that the country has “credible intelligence” that India may launch a military strike within 24 to 36 hours. The warning follows India’s accusation that Pakistan-backed militants were responsible for an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir last week that killed 26 tourists — a charge Islamabad denies.
2: Donald Trump on Monday reduced the tariff burden on US-based car manufacturers by ensuring that the 25% levies on vehicles and parts don’t pile on top of existing duties, such as those on imported steel and aluminum. He also provided tariff rebates on foreign parts to automakers operating in the US for a two-year period, giving them more time to shift their supply chains.
84: In Germany’s parliament late Tuesday, 84% of Social Democratic Party members strongly supported the party’s proposal to join a coalition government with the Christian Democratic bloc. Friedrich Merz, leader of the center-right party that won the February election, is set to be officially appointed chancellor next week. His main priority? Reviving Germany’s struggling economy.
10,000: Roughly 10,000 cases of acute malnutrition have been registered among children in Gaza so far this year, according to a new UN report. Overall, about 60,000 children there are chronically underfed. Israel has blocked all aid deliveries to the enclave since March 2, saying that Hamas hijacks humanitarian convoys. Dozens of local and internationally run community kitchens have run out of supplies and been forced to close in recent weeks.
3: On Tuesday, after just three months of freedom, Cuban dissident Jose Daniel Ferrerwas arrested again on charges that he had violated his parole agreement. Ferrer, one of the few high-profile opponents of the island’s communist dictatorship, was released earlier this year as part of a Vatican-brokered deal. The Castro regime continues to wield significant influence in Cuba, even amid a crippling economic crisis that has driven more than a fifth of the population abroad since 2022.Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani receives Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Doha, Qatar, earlier this month. Qatar and Saudi Arabia have now jointly agreed to pay off Syria's World Bank debt.
In recent days, Syria has taken two more big steps toward recovery.
First, Saudi Arabia and Qatar announced they will jointly pay off Syria’s $15 million of World Bank debt. The act of largesse by the two wealthy Gulf kingdoms unlocks further World Bank financing and technical assistance for Syria, which lies in ruins after nearly 15 years of brutal civil war and mass emigration.
Second, the Syrian Army will allow former Assad regime troops to enlist. The move reflects a tough tradeoff: Old rivalries could create new tensions in the ranks. There have already been violent clashes between Assad supporters and the new government.
But icing out hundreds of thousands of former Assad troops would rob the army of much-needed manpower while also leaving a large group of military-trained men jobless. As recently installed interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a veteran of jihad in Iraq, surely recalls, Washington’s policy of clumsily purging most Saddam-era troops from Iraq’s army in the 2000s planted the seeds for Islamic State, which recruited easily among the pink-slipped soldiers.
The next big hurdle: sanctions relief. The US and EU have eased some measures to facilitate aid, but most of the crippling Assad-era sanctions are still in place. Washington’s conditions for sanctions relief include outlawing Iranian forces, cracking down on Palestinian groups, and giving the US military a free hand in the country. Last week, Damascus arrested two senior Palestinian militants in a move widely seen as a concession to the US. So far, there has been no further movement on sanctions.Smoke rises following an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas, Iran, on April 26, 2025.
28: Twenty-eight people are dead following a powerful explosion at Iran’s Shahid Rajaee port in the central southern city of Bandar Abbas on Saturday. The blast, which is believed to be linked to containers of hazardous chemicals, injured more than 1,000 others and caused extensive damage to buildings several kilometers away from the port. Reports suggest that sodium perchlorate — used in missile fuel — may have been to blame, but Tehran denies any military connection to the blast.
9: A celebration of Filipino heritage in South Vancouver, Canada, turned tragic late Saturday when a man drove an SUV into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Day festival, killing nine people and injuring more than 20 others. A 30-year-old man was arrested at the scene, and while an investigation is underway, authorities have said they are “confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism.” PM Mark Carney offered his condolences and delayed final-day campaigning ahead of Monday’s federal election in the wake of the tragedy — and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. expressed his sympathy and support for the victims.
170: Late last week, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s leadership created a vice presidency, with 170 of its 172 Central Council members voting in favor of a post that would open the path to a successor for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. On Saturday, Abbas, 89, nominated his close confidante, 64-year-old Hussein al-Sheikh, as VP, and the PLO’s executive committee approved it.
52: Australia’s ruling Labor Party looks set to claim victory in the May 3 election, with recent polling showing it ahead of the Liberal-National Coalition opposition, 52% to 48%, according to a Newspoll survey. The latest figures were revealed after PM Anthony Albanese shone in the final leaders’ debate on Sunday.
68: Houthi rebels in Yemen say a US airstrike on a detention center in the northwestern Saada province Sunday night killed at least 68 people, and injured another 47. The US military has not yet commented, but the news came hours after US Central Command said its forces had hit hundreds of targets following President Donald Trump’s order to ramp up the air campaign against the Houthis on March 15. The rebel group says targeting the civilian facility constitutes a “war crime.”
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Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa at a Reuters interview at the presidential palace, in Damascus, Syria, in March.
Two top officials of Palestinian Islamic Jihad were arrested “without explanation” in Syria, according to the Palestinian militant group. The detentions occurred, PIJ said, “in a manner that we did not wish to see from brothers.” The two men have reportedly been held since last week.
The background: The Assad regime in Syria was both haven and backer of Palestinian armed groups for decades. In December, it was toppled by militants led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist group with al-Qaida roots.
Since then, HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, now Syria’s interim president, has styled himself as a statesman focused on rebuilding a country wrecked by nearly 15 years of civil war and mass emigration. He has had to contend with sectarian tensions, Israeli incursions and airstrikes, and longstanding US sanctions that remain in place.
That last bit explains the timing of the arrest. The US recently sent Damascus a list of conditions for sanctions relief, which included cracking down on Palestinian militants and icing out Iranian influence.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s longstanding ties to Tehran, therefore, make it “a low-hanging fruit and a win-win with the US,” says Firas Maksad, Middle East director at Eurasia Group.
But will that fruit be sweet enough for Trump? “The single most important thing al-Sharaa has to do is stabilize the country, and for that he has to get financial assistance,” says regional expert Hani Sabra, founder of Alef Advisory.
A Syrian delegation is in Washington this week for sanctions relief talks on the sidelines of the IMF Spring Meetings.
It’s a delicate dance: His financial needs are acute, but “Al-Sharaa can’t be seen to be doing every single thing that Western powers want him to do,” says Sabra.
“The last thing he wants is to seem like just another lackey.”
People gather after Friday prayers during a protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, in Amman, Jordan, on April 4, 2025.
Jordanian authorities announced on Wednesday the arrest of 16 people accused of planning terrorist attacks inside Jordan. The country’s security services say the suspects had been under surveillance since 2021, and half a dozen of them were reportedly members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Islamist organization.
The Brotherhood, which has links to the Islamic Action Front, the largest opposition group in Jordan’s parliament, denies any involvement, and insists that it is "committed to its peaceful approach" to Jordan’s politics.
The story highlights underlying tensions in Jordan. The monarchy is a key US ally and aid-recipient, and it made peace with Israel in 1994. But Israel’s assault on Gaza in response to Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks generated huge anger in Jordan, where nearly half of the country’s 11.5 million people are of Palestinian origin.
The Islamic Action Front’s ferocious criticism of both Israel and King Abdullah helped it to place first in last year’s election, though the country’s weak parliament remains dominated by pro-government parties.
The bottom line: Much media attention for Israel’s war with Hamas is focused on events in Gaza, but the conflict continues to reverberate around the Middle East. Jordan’s King Abdullah is walking a particularly fine line: how to project both stability and legitimacy as war rages across the border, and tensions run high at home.
Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.
If the US won't work to return a wrongly deported man to El Salvador despite a Supreme Court ruling, are we headed towards a constitutional crisis?
It certainly appears that way, and I think this is the constitutional crisis that the Trump administration would love to have. Because wrongfully deporting someone without evidence who is in the country illegally and therefore guilty of a misdemeanor, but sending them to a max security prison, which the Supreme Court says you shouldn't do, but now is in another country. Very few Americans are sympathetic to the case of this person. And indeed, Trump won on the basis in part of being sick and tired of allowing illegal immigrants to spend enormous amounts of time in the United States without recourse.
So he's breaking the law here. He's flouting independent judiciary and their decision-making, but he's doing it on an issue that most Americans have no sympathy on the other side. So the Democrats would have to be very wary of making this a hill they want to die on, and Trump knows exactly what he's doing. It is pretty impressive playbook for undermining rule of law and checks and balances on an increasingly authoritarian leaning executive. That's where we are.
Trump claims China-Vietnam talks are intended to "screw" the US. Does this run the risk of pushing Vietnam to China?
Certainly, most Vietnamese now are more well-disposed towards China than the US. First time we've seen that since the war. It's not true across Southeast Asia. Philippines, about 80% still pro-US, not pro-China. But it is a problem, and Xi Jinping understands that. And that's why he went in and was received directly by the president as opposed to the prime minister last time who met him at the airport. 45 big deals that they're signing on trying to improve economic coordination. Clearly a bit of a surprise to Trump, just as the direct retaliation from the Chinese, even though the Americans warned them, "Negotiate, don't retaliate." But that's exactly what China did, and Trump frankly should have expected that was coming. Now he looks a little bit weaker in the way he's backing down and creating exemptions for a lot of people in this space.
Saudi Arabia plans to pay off Syria's World Bank debt. Could this be a major turning point for Syria's future and its ties with regional allies?
It certainly helps. We've also seen the Qataris already say they're going to offer gas through Jordan into Syria. I think that this is all promising. The Saudis were never going to do that, provide any support as long as Assad was in place. Now they are. The Americans are pulling troops out, and Turkey is going to be the most important country on the ground. But economically, it's going to be the Gulf States, and that gives this new Syrian regime a better chance to succeed. Something we all clearly are rooting for in terms of one of the places that we'd like to see a little more stability from. Anyway, that's it for me, and I'll talk to you all real soon.
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