The SDF accepts a ceasefire, leaves the city after days of fierce fighting with scores dead, more than a hundred wounded, and 140,000 displaced. Father Karakach asks for prayers, solidarity, and support so that "the voice of Aleppo will not be forgotten." Marist Blues “are traumatised and distressed".
The authorities have cut off the internet throughout the country to obscure the demonstrations. Khamenei threatens those who “devastate the streets” to “please” Trump. In reality, discontent is much more deeply rooted and widespread, due to an increasingly devastating economic crisis. And alongside pro-rights and freedom slogans, monarchist nostalgia is also trying to make its way.
Fighting in Syria’s northern metropolis between the army and YPG forces has entered its third day. The suburbs of Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood have been declared "closed military areas”. The authorities imposed a curfew, with one resident calling the situation "terrible and awful”. Turkey offered support to al-Sharaa.
Informed by Damascus and Arab and international media outlets, Lebanese authorities are doubling their surveillance efforts. However, “gaps” in the border between the two countries are hindering the mission. According to the UN, since Assad's fall, 69,000 Syrians, mainly Alawites, have fled to Lebanon, although the data are partial and difficult to verify.
The chairman of Yemen’s Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council declares a state of emergency and cancels a defence pact with the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia carries out airstrikes against ships carrying weapons for the separatists. Already caught up in a conflict with pro-Iranian rebels, Yemen is a risk of further violence and chaos. In the background, Israel recognises an independent Somaliland, ostensibly as part of its war against the Houthis (and Tehran).
For Cardinal Mathieu, the end of the twelve-day war “has not dispelled the spectre of renewed hostilities. The question, according to the cardinal, is not 'if, but when”. In anticipation of World Peace Day, peace remains an “ideal and goal” also in relation to the “Jewish and Arab/Persian equivalents”. And may it be real “in hearts, in communities and in the world”.