News Digest — 11/12/25
Al-Sharaa: Syria In Direct Talks With Israel, But No Deal Until Israel Withdraws To 1974 Borders
Syria is currently engaged in direct negotiations with Israel as the two countries seek a new security agreement, Syria’s president said in an interview published on Tuesday (11th).
A day after Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa met with President Donald Trump in the White House, The Washington Post published an interview with the former jihadist, during which al-Sharaa confirmed that his government is speaking directly to Israel.
However, al-Sharaa emphasized that no deal can be reached until Israeli forces withdraw from the demilitarized zone and return to the boundaries established by the 1974 Separation of Forces agreement.
“We are engaged in direct negotiations with Israel, and we have gone a good distance on the way to reach an agreement,” al-Sharaa said. “But to reach a final agreement, Israel would withdraw to their pre-December borders.”
“Syria got into a war with Israel 50 years ago. Then in 1974, there was a disengagement agreement,” the Syrian president explained.
“This agreement lasted for 50 years. But when the regime fell, Israel revoked this agreement. They expanded their presence in Syria, and occupied new territory.
Al-Sharaa dismissed Israeli security concerns, rejected Jerusalem’s claim that it deployed forces to the demilitarized zone and carried out numerous military operations across southern Syria to prevent the entry of pro-Iranian forces, including Hezbollah.
Immediately following the collapse of the Assad regime last December, the IDF struck numerous military targets across the country, in a bid to prevent the Syrian military’s arsenal from falling into the hands of either pro-Iranian or radical Sunni militias.
The IDF also intervened in southern Syria on behalf of the country’s Druze minority, following the attacks by Sunni militias and pro-regime forces.
In recent months, Israel and Syria have been engaged in talks, supported by the Trump administration, aimed at establishing a new security agreement. Israel has reportedly requested the right to use an air corridor over Syria, enabling Israeli warplanes to reach Iran, in exchange for withdrawals from Syrian territory.
In addition, Israel has sought the establishment of an expanded demilitarized zone on the Israeli-Syrian frontier, and limits on Syrian deployments in Druze-majority areas.
Israel, US Reach Deal To Deport 200 Terrorists From Beyond Yellow Line In Gaza
Israel and the US on Tuesday (11th) reached a significant compromise, agreeing on the deportation of some 200 Hamas terrorists, currently hiding in tunnels within an IDF-controlled Yellow Line in Rafah, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
This agreement comes as part of ongoing efforts to eliminate Hamas’ presence in the region.
However, despite the arrangement, no country has yet agreed to accept the deported individuals, leaving a key aspect of the deal unresolved.
The decision follows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with special envoy and son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, at his Jerusalem office.
They also discussed disarming Hamas, demilitarizing Gaza, and ensuring Hamas has no role in Gaza ever again.
“Any decision regarding the 200 terrorists trapped in Rafah will be made in coordination with the Trump administration,” a spokesperson for Netanyahy said on Monday (10th).
Kushner arrived in Israel on Sunday (9th) for talks with Netanyahu on implementing the US plan to end the Gaza War, a source familiar with the matter said. Envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to arrive and join the talks as well.
Netanyahu met with Witkoff and Kushner just last month to discuss developments and updates in the region.
Iran Smuggling Advanced Weaponry To Growing Terrorist Proxy Network In Judea And Samaria -Adam Kredo
Iran has spent the past several months quietly smuggling advanced arms to a growing number of terrorist proxies in Judea and Samaria, ramping up its efforts to transform the territory into a Gaza-style terror hub that can replicate Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks since the Israel-Hamas ceasefire began a month ago, according to Israeli intelligence centers and regional analysts.
After the Donald Trump-backed ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect last month, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) moved the center of its operations against Israel to Judea and Samaria.
While PIJ is the most prolific of the Iranian-sponsored terror groups operating in major cities like Hebron, Nablus, Jenin, and Jericho, it is far from the only one.
Others among the 28 detailed in a Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) database include factions within the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and Hamas’ terror cells.
The terror groups–some of which have only recently begun setting up shop and receiving Iranian weapons–have acquired advanced rockets, explosive drones, anti-tank missiles, and rocket propelled grenades–armaments the Islamic Republic’s proxies in Judea and Samaria have not typically used in the past.
The quality and quantity of arms Tehran has sent to the Palestinian territory underscores its ambition to turn the areas outside Jerusalem into a launching point for another large-scale attack on Israel.
Its terror proxies share that assessment: Almost immediately after the Oct. 10 ceasefire began, Hamas made clear that Judea and Samaria “would continue to be a leading arena of resistance,” according to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information center, a research institution closely aligned with the IDF.
Just last week, the IDF intercepted a drone carrying 10 guns and various other forms of weaponry on its way from Jordan to Judea and Samaria.
That came after an October incident in which the IDF stopped a shipment from Iran’s Qud’s Force – a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps—to proxy groups in Judea and Samaria containing 15 anti-tank rockets, 29 explosive charges, 4 armed drones, and an assortment of firearms.
Amir Avivi, a former senior Israeli military officer who regularly advises the country’s government, told the Washington Free Beacon Iran views Judea and Samaria as its best chance to maximize its proxy war against Israel after the hits the Islamic Republic, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Gaza have taken over the past year.
“Iran is really, really focused on trying to create another front,” Avivi said. “It didn’t just start after the 12-Day War, but they feel that this is the area they need to focus on because they are having less success in Lebanon and in Gaza.”
Iran “pretty much lost Hezbollah, Syria and Hamas as assets, so they focus more and more on the terror cells” operating in Judea and Samaria, he continued.
Now the Islamic Republic is “trying to send substantial amounts of weapons capabilities through the Jordanian border.”
While the Islamic Republic’s attempt to turn Judea and Samaria into a hotbed of terror has not received significant attention in Western media, Israeli officials are on high alert.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told the UN Security Council in September the threat from Judea and Samaria is “real and imminent,” the Free Beacon reported at the time.
The Israeli military has taken continuous action to impede terrorist activity, conducting a number of high-profile raids on weapons depots the Palestinian Authority is either incapable of or unwilling to prevent Iranian proxies from establishing.
In February of this year, the IDF thwarted a plot stemming from a “joint Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Al Aqsa Martyr’ Brigades command center” within the Nur Shams refugee camp, a report from the David Institute for Security Policy details.
Terrorists successfully planted explosives on buses expected to be “in five separate locations, spread across at least three different cities, and targeted civilians during busy Friday morning shopping hours.
Three of those bombs detonated at 9:00 pm instead of 9:00 am while sitting in a depot, allowing Israeli authorities to locate and neutralize the others.
The David Institute noted “the planning and financing of these devices were Iranian,” adding Iran has labeled Judea and Samaria Israel’s “soft underbelly” given its close proximity to Israeli cities and Ben Gurion Airport.
Israeli forces in July disrupted an operation in Hebron where they discovered “large caches of weapons, improvised explosives devices, explosives, and firearms,” as well as “underground infrastructure used for concealment,” according to the David Institute report.
At least 60 terrorists from 10 separate terror cells–most of them former prisoners with experience on the battlefield–had planned to attack Israel on multiple fronts.
FDD senior research analyst Joe Truzman told the Free Beacon Iran’s move to bolster its proxies in Judea and Samaria is “a deliberate strategy to stretch Israeli forces thin” and “maintain pressure on multiple fronts.”
“Iran continues to carry out its shadow war against Israel by funneling weapons to a network of terrorist clients in the West Bank,” he said. “It is upping the ante by sending game-changing weaponry that can inflict heavy casualties and destabilize the territory.”
Israel has recently uncovered weapons manufacturing sites in the West Bank as well.
Photographs from one Hebron-based weapons depot found last month include missile production facilities, indicating various Palestinian terror cells now have the capability to manufacture advanced weapons on their own.
Hezbollah in Lebanon is unable to pose the same threat against Israel as it once did, Avivi told the Free Beacon, but Iran has been working to open a pipeline from the country into Judea and Samaria.
Israeli forces prevented two attempts by the Quds Force to smuggle weapons from Lebanon into Judea and Samaria in July, the Amit Center’s report shows.
Goodbye, ‘Mr. Evacuate Now’: Arab Outlets Weigh In On Avichay Adraee’s Retirement
Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson for roughly two decades, is set to retire, according to Israeli Army Radio. Reporter Doron Kadosh wrote that there’s “currently no timeline” for his departure while discussions continue with IDF spokesperson BG. Effie Defrin on timing and a successor.
Across Arabic-language media the news landed quickly and with sharply different tones. Asharq Al-Awsat offered a long profile-style recap of Adraee’s 20 years as a highly visible face to Arabic audiences, noting his roots in UNit 8200 and the IDF’s increasing use of his social accounts to broadcast evacuation maps and “pre-strike” warnings. The paper also reported that the army will choose a replacement in the coming months.
By contrast, The New Arab described Adraee as “infamous for his threats, evacuation warnings and bad-taste humor,” saying he became a symbol of fear for civilians from Gaza or Lebanon as his posts multiplied after October 2023. The outlet also cited Army Radio’s line that no date has been set for his exit.
Sky News Arabia treated the development as a straight news brief but underlined why Adraee mattered regionally: the IDF’s Arabic messaging strategy , which relied on social platforms to push evacuation instructions and what the channel called “operational media,” drew both attention and criticism as psychological warfare.
Al-Araby Al-Jadeed’s Arabic edition similarly framed him as “the face of the army” to the Arab world, emphasizing his role in issuing evacuation orders before strikes and noting that his formal retirement date could still take months as a replacement is selected.
Regional outlets reiterated the storyline with local angles. Lebanon’s MTV said Adraee’s daily presence during the past two years made him a household name, focusing on his maps and pre-attack alerts and linking the method to an Israeli bid to show compliance with international law. Jordan’s Royal News and Al-Ghad highlighted that the IDF is already vetting successors, with Maariv reporting that several candidates are being camera-tested.
On social media, mainstream newsroom accounts amplified the update while users mixed both celebration and sarcasm. Erem News posted that Adraee would wrap up service within months, while MTV Lebanon News pushed a “breaking” alert to followers. Jordan’s Al Ghad used a blunt headline calling him Israel’s “propaganda mouthpiece” to the Arab public.
Christian Zionists: Civilization’s Defense Force In An Era Of Existential Threat – Dr. Dan Diker
• The Iran-Russia-China-Turkey axis represents a coordinated anti-Western alliance. But there is a global counterforce to confront these dangerous geopolitical threats. Some 700 million Christian Zionists worldwide in North America, Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Europe stand against the toxic trend of Islamic subversion, Jew-hatred and Jewish state rejection. They recognize that defending Israel means defending civilization against the forces of barbarism and chaos.
• American Christian Zionists share the biblical values upon which both American and Israeli societies are built. They possess the power to amplify Israel’s voice for regional security and stability. US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, an evangelical Christian and a longtime, unwavering supporter of Israel, told NBC News that America and Israel “share a value system that is rooted deeply in a biblical understanding of a worldview that says that the individual is important. That is, in my mind, the very essence of Western civilization.”
• “There’s a long line of enemies that the Jewish people experience across this globe, and sadly on some of our own university campuses. It’s going to be a privilege to be one of those people – not Jewish, but Christian – who will say to our Jewish friends, ‘You will never go through what you’ve gone through alone. We will not stand behind you. We will stand with you.’ “
• Rev. Johnnie Moore, President of the Congress of Christian Leaders, explains, “Christians who support the Jewish people’s right to live in Israel are Christian Zionists, and Christian Zionists also proudly stand with their Jewish neighbors against the scourge of anti-Semitism.” Moore emphasized that America’s founders drew inspiration from the Jewish story, embedding Zionist language in America’s founding narrative which is why we speak of Judeo-Christian values drawn from the Scriptures.
• Pastor Dumisani Washington, founder and CEO of the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel, recently declared: “I don’t care what else your pastor gets right. If he gets Israel wrong, find another church… Christians who understand their faith recognize that King David’s declaration to ‘pray for the peace of Jerusalem” is not a request. It is a commandment from God. The Jewish people are God’s chosen and the Land of Israel belongs to them from the time God spoke to Abraham,…. Without Jews and Judaism there would be no Jesus or Christianity.”
The writer is president of the Jerusalem Center.
(jcpa.org)
