Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Israel’s interests in Syria, a deadly cyclone hitting the French territory of Mayotte, and the collapse of Germany’s ruling government.
Sign up to receive World Brief in your inbox every weekday.
Sign up to receive World Brief in your inbox every weekday.
Settlement Fervor
Israel approved a more than $11 million plan on Sunday to double its population in the annexed Golan Heights, where some 31,000 Israeli settlers already live alongside roughly 24,000 Druze.
Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and has remained in control of it ever since, in what most of the international community considers an illegal occupation. The United States is the only country that formally recognizes Israeli sovereignty over the territory.
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates condemned Israel’s decision. A statement from the Emirati Foreign Affairs Ministry on Sunday described the move as a “deliberate effort to expand the occupation.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel has “no interest in a conflict with Syria,” but he argued that the settlement plan is necessary to “thwart the potential threats from Syria and to prevent the takeover of terrorist elements near our border.”
Following the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8, Israel launched hundreds of attacks on the country’s strategic weapons stockpiles, including at least 75 strikes on Syrian weapons depots and air defenses over the weekend. Israel’s military also took control of a United Nations-controlled buffer zone inside Syria next to the Golan Heights earlier this month, though it claims that the incursion is a limited and temporary measure to ensure Israel’s border security.
Syrian rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa (also known as Mohammed al-Jolani) accused Israel on Saturday of using false pretexts to justify its attacks. He said Israeli forces pose “a threat of unwarranted escalation in the region” and that “Syria’s war-weary condition, after years of conflict and war, does not allow for new confrontations.”
Sharaa emphasized that his priorities remain reconstruction and stability, not further conflict. But Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday that “despite the moderate image that the rebel leaders claim to present,” the latest developments in Damascus have increased the threat level to Israel.
“Strengthening the Golan is strengthening the State of Israel, and it is especially important at this time,” Netanyahu said. “We will continue to hold onto it, cause it to blossom, and settle in it.”
Also this weekend, Israel announced that it will close its embassy in Dublin due to “the extreme anti-Israel policies of the Irish government.” The closure does not sever diplomatic relations with Ireland, and Dublin said its embassy in Tel Aviv will remain functional. “I utterly reject the assertion that Ireland is anti-Israel,” Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris said. “Ireland is pro-peace, pro-human rights, and pro-international law.”
The move highlights the Israeli government’s growing animosity toward foreign powers that it considers to be against its war effort. Last week, Ireland announced that it would file an intervention in support of South Africa’s case against Israel in the International Court of Justice, in which Pretoria accuses Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza—a claim that Israel vehemently denies.
Today’s Most Read
The World This Week
Tuesday, Dec. 17: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hosts Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Wednesday, Dec. 18: NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte hosts an informal leaders’ meeting, with representatives from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom in attendance.
Brussels hosts the annual European Union-Western Balkans Summit.
Thursday, Dec. 19: The European Council begins a two-day leaders’ summit.
Friday, Dec. 20: Annual marches in Argentina mark the anniversary of violent confrontations between police and protesters in December 2001.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hosts Estonian President Kristen Michal.
What We’re Following
Devastating cyclone. Paris deployed ships and military aircraft to the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte on Monday to assist search-and-rescue efforts after the tiny island suffered its worst cyclone in nearly a century. Authorities fear that Cyclone Chido, which made landfall on Saturday and leveled entire neighborhoods, has killed hundreds, if not thousands, of people; the current death toll is at least 14 people.
The devastation is “unimaginable,” the French Red Cross said, as officials continue to search for survivors in the rubble. Some Mayotte residents reportedly underestimated the storm’s power, and many undocumented migrants living on the island avoided shelters out of fear of deportation, both of which may have contributed to the cyclone’s high death toll.
Mayotte is the poorest European Union territory and has already reported mass electricity outages and a shortage in clean drinking water across the archipelago. “It’s urgent that aid arrives, especially when you see children, babies, to whom we have nothing concrete to offer,” Mayotte Sen. Salama Ramia told local media. Damage to Mayotte’s airport control tower means that only military aircraft can land, complicating the humanitarian response.
Collapsed government. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a no-confidence vote on Monday, dissolving parliament and triggering rare snap elections. The new vote will occur on Feb. 23, seven months ahead of schedule. This is Berlin’s fourth snap election in 75 years, and it signals a deepening leadership crisis for Europe’s largest economy and across the continent, as France also reckons with a recent parliamentary upset.
Scholz’s three-party “traffic light” coalition splintered in November after Scholz fired his finance minister, Free Democratic Party leader Christian Lindner. Lindner opposed the bloc’s 2025 budget proposal and wanted to slash welfare funding, cut taxes, and postpone Germany’s carbon-neutral target. Lindner’s dismissal forced the Free Democrats to leave the ruling coalition, effectively paralyzing Scholz’s government.
Opinion polls predict new elections to shift toward the right, as anti-immigration policies become more popular and Germans express growing frustration over continued military aid for Ukraine. Conservative Friedrich Merz, who leads the opposition Christian Democratic Union party, is expected to become the next German chancellor, and the far-right Alternative for Germany party is predicted to secure a record share of parliamentary seats in new elections.
In exile. Assad issued his first public statement on Monday since fleeing Syria for safety in Russia. “My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles,” the ousted Syrian president said in a statement attributed to him that was posted on his Telegram account.
According to the statement, Assad remained in Damascus until the early hours of Dec. 8 before moving north to the region of Latakia in coordination with Russian allies “to oversee combat operations.” It was there that he allegedly realized that his last army positions had fallen. Assad maintained on Monday that he has no plans to leave Moscow.
Constitutional crisis. South Korea’s Constitutional Court began proceedings on Monday over whether to remove or reinstate President Yoon Suk-yeol, after lawmakers voted on Saturday to impeach him over his decision to invoke martial law on Dec. 3. The court has up to six months to decide, and the first public hearing is scheduled for Dec. 27. Yoon is not required to attend that hearing.
Also on Monday, the country’s authorities continued their criminal investigation into whether Yoon incited an insurrection, a charge that would carry the death penalty or life imprisonment for those deemed ringleaders. A team including Seoul’s Defense Ministry, an anti-corruption agency, and local police sought on Monday to question Yoon on charges of rebellion and abuse of power. However, the president’s office and residence refused to convey the request to Yoon, with presidential secretarial staff saying they were unsure if such actions were part of their required duties.
Yoon has pledged to fight the insurrection probe against him. In a national address last Thursday, he defended his martial law decision as vital to protect the country from “anti-state” opposition parties.
Odds and Ends
Halloween has already come and gone this year, but that didn’t stop Australian zoo director Liz Bellward from dressing up as an ostrich while at work last Friday. She didn’t get her spooky season dates mixed up, though—rather, Bellward donned the flightless bird costume to test Rockhampton Zoo staff on what to do if one of their animals escapes. “This year’s training was the first live experience and an opportunity for staff to put their training into practice,” said Cherie Rutherford, a Rockhampton councilor. The surprise drill occurred during normal business hours, which means that many visitors saw what it looks like for an adult human to hightail it as an ostrich.
The post Israel Approves Plan to Double Population in the Golan Heights appeared first on Foreign Policy.
