Overview
- Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon, the GCC and the Palestinian presidency condemned the bombing at Homs’ Imam Ali mosque, offering condolences and expressing solidarity with Syria.
- With AFCON 2025 underway, Morocco opened an African policing cooperation centre in Salé with INTERPOL support and deployed a centralized smart video network of thousands of cameras, special units and drones to manage crowds and threats.
- CAF punished Morocco’s Al‑Jaish Al‑Malaki for crowd misconduct against Al Ahly with two home matches behind closed doors and $100,000 in fines, including penalties for lasers, bottle throwing, ball‑boy interference and a dangerous metal object.
- Analysts describe a cautious reset in Syria–Russia ties after a high‑level Damascus visit to Moscow, with Syria seeking political cover and air‑defense repair as Russia prioritizes maintaining bases and a strategic Mediterranean presence.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s sharpened rhetoric is read as targeting domestic support and a bid for stronger U.S. backing ahead of a Washington trip, as European positions grow more hesitant over operations harming civilians, while the UAE advanced institutional and diplomatic moves by enacting the Mohammed bin Rashid Global Initiatives law with key appointments and co‑chairing its joint committee with Bahrain.