Eritrea

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Military & Security

Politics

The governments of Somalia's Jubaland and Puntland states skipped a meeting convened by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to discuss plans to protect the country's territorial integrity following Israel's Dec. 26 recognition of the independence Somaliland, a breakaway region, Hiiraan Online reported on Dec. 29.

Somalia: Puntland and Jubaland Skip Meeting With Federal Government Over Israeli Recognition of Somaliland

United States

Turkey

Yemen

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in a joint declaration with Somaliland's President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi that Israel recognized Somaliland's sovereignty as an independent state, the first country in the world to recognize the breakaway region, The Jerusalem Post reported on Dec. 26.

Israel, Somalia: Israel Recognizes Somaliland's Sovereignty

Palestinian Territories

Israel-Hamas Conflict

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israel would maintain a permanent security presence in the Gaza Strip for security reasons and that at some point -- though no specific timeline was given -- Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would establish Nahal units in northern Gaza, Reuters reported Dec. 23. 

Israel, Palestinian Territories: Israeli Defense Minister Says IDF To Establish Civilian-Military Units in Gaza

Iran

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly planning to discuss potentially attacking Iran during his expected Dec. 29 meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump after both U.S. and Israeli intelligence assessed that Iran is rebuilding its ballistic missile program, NBC reported Dec. 20.

Israel, U.S., Iran: Netanyahu Reportedly Intends To Discuss Iran Attack Plans With Trump

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global hunger monitor, wrote in an assessment that there was no longer a famine in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported on Dec. 19.

Israel, Palestinian Territories: Global Hunger Monitor Declares Famine Is No Longer Present in Gaza

Qatar

U.S. CENTCOM held a conference in Doha, Qatar, with some 45 countries to discuss a possible Gaza stabilization force, with U.S. officials optimistic that at least some forces could be deployed behind the so-called yellow line in Gaza under Israeli control in 2026, The Times of Israel reported on Dec. 16.

Israel, Gaza: Qatar Hosts U.S.-Led Gaza Stabilization Forum, With Little Sign of Progress

Hamas' chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, said that Israel's alleged violations risked upending the Hamas-Israel ceasefire and that Hamas' arms are a "right guaranteed by international law" in a video statement released a day after Israel assassinated a senior Hamas commander, Raed Saad, in Gaza, Al Jazeera reported Dec. 14. 

Israel, Palestinian Territories: Hamas Negotiator Rejects Disarmament After Assassination of Senior Commander 

Australia

China

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Science & Technology

The U.S. Trump administration plans to sign the Pax Silica Declaration with Australia, Japan, Israel, Singapore and South Korea on Dec. 12, forming a coalition designed to counter China's control of critical minerals and its growing clout in the artificial intelligence sector, Politico reported the same day.

Global: U.S., Five Others To Sign Pax Silica Declaration in a Bid To Counter China in CRMs, AI

Assessments

Central African Republic

Guinea

Venezuela

Myanmar

Europe

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Kosovo

Ukraine

Russia

The Bulgarian flag and the European flag waving in the wind.

Energy

A look at what the coming week will bring -- and a list of recommended RANE articles from the week that was.

The Weekly Rundown: Bulgaria Adopts the Euro, U.S.-Venezuela Tensions Persist

YemenYemenis rally to show their support for the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council on Dec. 14, 2025.

Escalating tensions and potential violence between the Southern Transitional Council and Saudi-backed forces create security vacuums that Houthi rebels will likely exploit.



Yemen's Anti-Houthi Bloc Is Fracturing

Lebanon

Israeli air defence systems are activated to intercept Iranian missiles over the Israeli city of Tel Aviv amid a fresh barrage of Iranian rockets on June 16, 2025.

If effective, the laser air defense system will significantly reduce the cost of intercepting short-range aerial threats and bolster Israel's multilayered protection against aerial attacks.


The Role of Iron Beam in Israel's Evolving Defense Architecture

Palestinian Hamas militants stand guard as Egyptian and Red Cross workers search for the bodies of the last two remaining hostages from under the rubble of the Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Dec. 1, 2025.

The shift toward a low-intensity conflict in the Gaza Strip will likely enable Israel to keep pressuring Hamas to disarm without triggering significant backlash or a resumption of Houthi maritime attacks.

Israel Moves Toward a De Facto Partition of Gaza

A photograph taken from the Israeli side of the border with southern Lebanon shows U.N. peacekeepers clearing landmines on Nov. 19, 2025. 

Rare direct talks between the neighboring adversaries will probably continue despite Hezbollah's objections, but Israel's likely refusal to offer meaningful concessions will sustain a high risk of renewed conflict in the coming months.

Lebanon-Israel Talks Are Unlikely To Pave the Way for Peace

Columns

On Geopolitics

Hamas militants arrive to secure the area as Egyptian and Red Cross workers search for the bodies of the last two remaining hostages from under the rubble of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Dec. 1, 2025. 

In this phase of the conflict, Israel and Hamas aim to break one another's political will not through widespread violence but through attrition and exhaustion.

Hamas and Israel Evolve the Gaza Conflict

Snapshots

Workers clean the rubble from the site of a Nov. 23 Israeli airstrike targeting a residential building in the southern Haret Hreik neighborhood of Beirut. Israel will likely opportunistically escalate airstrikes against Hezbollah and Hamas to further weaken the militant groups and push them toward disarmament without ending shaky ceasefires.

Miscalculation or an opportunity for Israel to significantly set back Hezbollah would, however, increase the likelihood of a return to major fighting. 

Despite More Intense Israeli Strikes, Hezbollah and Hamas Ceasefires Will Likely Hold

Media

Indonesia

Podcasts

What is the outlook for Indonesia-Israel normalization, and what would that process look like?

Essential Geopolitics: Indonesia's Interest in Israel-Gaza

Excavation crews work amid rubble in Hamad City, west of Khan Yunis, Gaza, on Oct. 26, 2025. 

The extended timeline for reconstruction ensures dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza will likely persist for years, fueling future radicalization and significant population displacement.

Gaza Reconstruction Likely To Take Years and Fuel Palestinian Emigration

Chile

Cambodia

Thailand

India

Pakistan

People watch the USS Gravely, a Navy warship, departing the Port of Spain on Oct. 30, 2025. The U.S. warship arrived in Trinidad and Tobago on Oct. 26, 2025, for joint exercises near the coast of Venezuela, as Washington ratcheted up pressure on drug traffickers and Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

The Weekly Rundown: U.S.-Saudi Meeting, Military Escalation in the Caribbean

Yemen's Houthi fighters man machine guns mounted on trucks as they participate in a weaponized protest staged against the United States and Israel on Nov. 6, 2025 in Sanaa, Yemen. 

Global Trade

Israel is expected to soon launch another offensive against Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis, which will risk reigniting the civil war and exposing Gulf countries and Red Sea shipping to retaliatory attacks.

What a Renewed Israel-Houthi Conflict Would Mean for Yemen and Gulf Security

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Tayr Debba on Nov. 6, 2025. 

Despite Lebanon's diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions with Israel, stalled progress on Hezbollah's disarmament portends intensified Israeli airstrikes that would risk collapsing the Lebanese government and even triggering another war.

The Growing Risk of a New Hezbollah-Israel War

Israel lives under difficult geopolitical circumstances. A small country with limited resources and surrounded by potentially hostile neighbors, Israel survives by allying with powers that do have the resources to manage the balance of power in the Middle East — namely, the United States. Its geographic position also means that Israel must manage complex relations with its Muslim neighbors by quiet collaboration, by exploiting divisions, and by parlaying its technological and economic advantages into create strategic dependencies. To navigate all the challenges presented by the Middle East, Israel will remain agile in its diplomacy and, when the situation warrants, steadfast in its pre-emptive strikes, its covert activities and its economic relationships.

Israel's Survival Strategy

The U.S. and the Balance of Power

Rebalancing Power in the Middle East

SITUATION REPORTS

Somalia: Puntland and Jubaland Skip Meeting With Federal Government Over Israeli Recognition of Somaliland

Israel, Somalia: Israel Recognizes Somaliland's Sovereignty

Israel, Palestinian Territories: Israeli Defense Minister Says IDF To Establish Civilian-Military Units in Gaza

Israel, U.S., Iran: Netanyahu Reportedly Intends To Discuss Iran Attack Plans With Trump

Israel, Palestinian Territories: Global Hunger Monitor Declares Famine Is No Longer Present in Gaza

Israel, Gaza: Qatar Hosts U.S.-Led Gaza Stabilization Forum, With Little Sign of Progress

Israel, Palestinian Territories: Hamas Negotiator Rejects Disarmament After Assassination of Senior Commander

Global: U.S., Five Others To Sign Pax Silica Declaration in a Bid To Counter China in CRMs, AI

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