Trump’s envoy to Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellog, on Russian General Kirillov’s assassination in Moscow by Ukraine:

“There are rules of war. This wasn’t smart— not a good idea at all.”

Trump’s envoy to Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellog:

Russian losses are five times higher than Ukraine’s.

They're using human wave attacks like North Koreans with huge casualties. This is historically how they fight.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan:

With all due to respect to our Iranian friends, we’ve had this discussion with them maybe for thousands of times.

Their presence in Syria didn’t prevent a big genocide in Gaza.

Lights on: Christmas tree lighting tonight in Homs, Syria.

NEW: Israel carried out air strikes on Houthi-controlled Sana'a, Hodeidah and Ras Isa Port with a large number of aircraft. Following the Israeli attacks, a fire broke out in Haziz power plant in South Sana'a.

NEW: France would host an international meeting on Syria in January, and the lifting of sanctions and reconstruction aid would be conditional on clear political and security commitments by the transitional authority.

Acting Foreign Minister Jan-Noel Barrot told parliament that the diplomats had seen positive signals from the transitional authority and that in the capital, at least, Syrians appeared to be resuming their normal life without being impeded.

A team of French diplomats met an official from the Syrian transition team on Tuesday in Damascus and raised the flag over the French embassy there 12 years after cutting ties with Syria's Bashar al-Assad amid the country's civil war.

NEW: US alarmed Russia is close to accepting nuclear-armed North Korea

As Moscow and Pyongyang defended their growing cooperation, the United States expressed alarm at the United Nations Security Council that Russia was close to accepting a nuclear-armed North Korea.

"Alarmingly, we assess that Russia may be close to accepting North Korea's nuclear-weapons program, reversing Moscow's decades-long commitment to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula," said U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in September that Moscow considered the notion of North Korea's "denuclearisation" to be a closed issue. "We understand Pyongyang's logic in relying on nuclear weapons as the basis of its defence," he said.

- Reuters

NEW: Britain pledges new $286m defence package for Ukraine

Britain said on Thursday it would send an additional £225 million ($286 million) of military equipment to Ukraine to help it in its war against Russia.

The package includes:

- 92M to boost Ukraine's navy with new boats, drones, and minesweepers.

- 68M for air defence equipment.

- 26M for spare parts and support for delivered systems.

- $39 million for over 1,000 counter-drone systems and protective equipment for Ukraine.

- Reuters

In total, five Houthi targets across Yemen were hit with dozens of munitions by Israel.

Additionally, 8 tugboats in Yemeni ports were targeted to block tanker and cargo ship access, effectively disabling Houthi ports until replacements arrive.

10 people were killed.

Energy crisis in Iran: The lights went out during a live TV show.

NEW: UN Security Council told of North Korean missiles used by Russia in Ukraine

Researchers told the UN Security Council that North Korea could produce and supply ballistic missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine within months. Jonah Leff of Conflict Armament Research reported finding remnants of four North Korean missiles in Ukraine, including one produced in 2024, recovered in July and August.

“This is the first public evidence of missiles having been produced in North Korea and then used in Ukraine within a matter of months, not years,” Leff told the council.

- Al Jazeera

NEW: Israeli water cuts in Gaza are 'acts of genocide', says rights group

Israeli authorities have deliberately deprived Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip of water, causing thousands of deaths and committing the crime of extermination and "acts of genocide", according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

HRW said Israel has deliberately deprived most of Gaza's 2.3 million people of access to water.

"For more than a year, the Israeli government has deliberately denied Palestinians in Gaza the bare minimum [of water] they need to survive," said Tirana Hassan, executive director at Human Rights Watch.

The 184-page report says that Israel has cut off water and electricity to Gaza, rendering much of the enclave's water and sanitation infrastructure unusable.

- Financial Times

NEW: Preparations have begun for the repatriation of some 2,400 former Assad regime fighters who fled to Iraq to Syria via Albukamal.

- Creative Agency

Billions wasted by U.S. Navy: The GAO report highlights systemic issues in the U.S. Navy’s $4 billion modernization of Ticonderoga-class cruisers.

Only three of seven cruisers—USS Gettysburg, USS Chosin, and USS Cape St. George—were completed, failing to achieve the promised five additional years of service life.

Nearly half the funds ($1.84 billion) were wasted on four cruisers retired without re-entering service.

For the cost of these three modernized ships, the Navy could have nearly bought two new destroyers, with the remaining cruisers slated for decommissioning by the late 2020s.

Source: TWZ

NEW: It has been claimed that Syrian opposition forces have been deployed on the Türkiye - Syria border for an operation to target Ain al-Arab.

NEW: Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) neutralized Nesrin Amed (codename for Yayla Kızılkaya), the alleged PKK/PAJK Jazira Regional Commander, in a pinpoint operation in Qamishli, Syria.

Kızılkaya, a key figure in managing the group’s female cadres and Syrian operations, joined the PKK in 1993 and participated in terrorist activities in regions like Qandil, Gare, and Şemdinli.

NEW: 112 members of a family were tortured to death in Assad's detention centres in al-Qadam neighbourhood of Damascus. As the torture and execution records of the Assad regime come to light, the extent of the brutality in Syria becomes clearer.

Source: Qutaiba Yaseen

US Senator Chris Murphy announced his support for the plan to lift sanctions against Syria.

Murphy argued that U.S. sanctions, which were aimed at a government no longer in power, should be suspended to facilitate humanitarian aid and reconstruction.

Additionally, Murphy noted that HTS officials have expressed a commitment to inclusive governance, which will be closely monitored.

Green buses have been prepared to bring back to Syria the soldiers of the toppled Assad regime who fled to Iraq.