Overview
- A U.S.-brokered suspension reduced large-scale fighting in Gaza but did not end it, with the column noting ongoing casualties, released hostages, and unresolved tasks such as establishing a new Palestinian administration, building a security force, and disarming Hamas.
- The column credits pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as instrumental to securing the Gaza freeze.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 28 to work on a U.S.-proposed plan, as Washington pushes Ukraine and Russia into an active diplomatic track after nearly four years of war.
- Trump ordered strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites in June, an action the column says delayed Tehran’s program by only a few years and heightened the risk of a wider regional conflict.
- U.S.-Syria ties warmed under new leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, with the column highlighting his consolidation of power, outreach to Gulf states, counter-ISIS cooperation with the West, and a cooler stance toward Iran, while also criticizing a separate Caribbean anti-drug-boat campaign as performative.