JERUSALEM, Israel – President Trump issued a stark warning to Hamas as his administration sanctions groups tied to their financing, and significant shifts are underway in Syria, Lebanon, and Iran.
Tensions remain high across the Middle East as the United States, Israel, and regional powers take new actions involving Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, and Syria.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump warned Hamas it had better disarm.
“If they don’t do it,” the president said bluntly, “they’ll be blown away very quickly.”
His comments came as the U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions against six Gaza-based organizations and the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, accusing them of supporting Hamas’s Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. The Treasury Department said Hamas operates behind civilian organizations that present themselves as independent while secretly raising funds for the terror group.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted an invitation to join Trump’s Gaza Board of Peace. Egypt has announced it will also participate, while Sweden and Norway rejected invitations. Italian officials reportedly believe that joining the board would violate its constitution.
Trump praised the group and its mission.
He stated, “This is the greatest board ever assembled, and everybody wants to be on it. But, yeah, I have some controversial people on it, but these are people that get the job done. These are people that have tremendous influence. If I put all babies on the board, it wouldn’t be very much.”
On Israel’s northern front, Israeli airstrikes targeted Hezbollah infrastructure and weapons storage sites in Lebanon, following evacuation warnings in three villages.
The Israeli military also struck four crossings along the Lebanon-Syria border, claiming they were used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons.
In Iran, the government released its first official death toll from recent protests, saying 3,117 people were killed nationwide. State Television announced that 2,427 were civilians and security forces, referring to them as “martyrs” and denying responsibility for the deaths.
Yet, in a recent interview on Jerusalem Dateline, Iranian-Canadian activist Goldie Ghamari described a different reality.
She told us, “The number is unconfirmed, but we’re hearing of at least 30,000, if not more. It is the single largest massacre of Iranians by the Islamic dictatorship since they took over in 1979.”
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In northeastern Syria, following recent violent clashes, government forces have taken control of the Al Hol Camp, which houses thousands of terrorists linked to ISIS. The move comes as a truce with Kurdish fighters appears to be holding, and as the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) move closer to merging into the Syrian military.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan voiced support for the development.
“We have repeatedly said that we will not tolerate a separatist structure on Turkey’s southern borders that would threaten our country’s security,” Erdogan declared. “As neighbors and brothers, we wholeheartedly support the Syrian state and the Syrian military in their struggle to build a united, single, independent Syria.”
Using the new Syrian government as a proxy, Erdogan’s neo-Ottoman foreign policy seeks to expand his regional influence. Turkey strongly opposes the SDF, which it designates as a terrorist organization.
Human rights organizations have reported allegations of forced displacement and violence against Kurdish populations in northern Syria.
