I'm waiting for confirmed reports on the elimination of senior Houthi terrorist leaders and key figures in Abdul-Malik al-Houthi’s inner circle. If confirmed, this could be a major blow to the leadership of Iran’s terrorist proxy in Yemen!

Kaja Kallas, @kajakallas just laid it out clearly in the European Parliament! Houthi attacks on Riyadh’s airport, residential areas, and targets in Yemen are textbook terrorism- indiscriminate strikes on civilians designed to sow fear and shift the balance of power. The EU stands with Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s legitimate government! She also stressed that the Houthis are financed, equipped and trained by Iran! This tracks with her record. Since Assad’s fall she has been one of the more consistent European voices pushing for a Syrian-led transition, sanctions relief, and engagement with the new authorities - while still insisting on inclusion, accountability, and protection of minorities. She has treated the Arab world as a region of real strategic interest rather than a permanent problem set. Her point on the Gulf is equally straightforward and correct: “The Gulf is where Europe’s best hopes are for diversifying trade supplies. Around a fifth of the EU’s trade already passes through the Red Sea. The security of the region is in our core interest.” Operation Aspides exists to protect European commercial shipping. The postponed EU-GCC summit was meant to deepen exactly this conversation. Europe’s interest in open sea lanes, diversified energy and trade routes, and a more stable Gulf is not abstract. It is concrete! Closer, more practical cooperation with the GCC, the wider Arab world, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not charity. It is basic strategic sense! The security of the Red Sea and the Gulf is European security! Saudi Arabia has repeatedly intercepted Houthi missiles and drones aimed at its cities and infrastructure, and it remains the indispensable partner for keeping those routes open. So I hope the EU now treat Riyadh accordingly - as a core ally,as we've seen already evidence of that they do.

The UK is deploying RAF Typhoon fighters to Saudi Arabia following escalating Houthi drone and missile strikes targeting Riyadh and coastal energy infrastructure! ​Authorized by PM Andy Burnham, the deployment is strictly defensive. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting confirmed the Typhoons "will not conduct offensive strikes against the Houthis."

Jonathan Urich, #Netanyahu’s closest media aide, has now admitted he worked to polish Qatar’s image in #Israel and the US- and kept doing so even after 7 October! He still refuses to resign. Netanyahu, who previously insisted his top strategist was clean, refuses to fire him! For years the story was that Urich only helped Qatar ahead of the 2022 World Cup. After the Hamas massacre he claimed the ties were cut. The police interrogations tell a different story. An indictment for collusion with a foreign power is expected! This is not a side issue. It sits inside a longer policy. Before 7 October, Netanyahu’s office worked closely with Qatar so Doha’s money would keep flowing to Hamas in Gaza! The calculation was explicit: fund the Islamists enough to keep them governing, weaken the Palestinian Authority, and lock in the split between Gaza and the West Bank. “Buying quiet” by strengthening the group that would later carry out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust! When the war started and Qatar became toxic in Israel, Netanyahu publicly turned against it. Parts of his inner circle did not! Urich is one of them! He is also suspected of leaking classified Hamas documents to the German paper *Bild* on Netanyahu’s orders- material Israeli censors had blocked. The policy of using Qatari cash to manage Hamas was not invented by Qatar. It was enabled, approved, and sustained by Israeli decision-makers who believed they could control the outcome. They did not! If the people who helped shape and protect that arrangement face no real accountability, the next version of the same gamble becomes easier. The record is public. The consequences are known. The question is whether anyone in that circle will actually be held to it!

As US envoy Steve Witkoff meets Putin in St. Petersburg today- after constructive talks in Oslo with Zelenskyy and the leaders of Norway and Finland - Marco Rubio reminds us that people predicted this war would be over in 5 days. We’re now approaching 5 years! Ukraine is not easily defeated. Quite the opposite! Russia should be open to peace!

I don’t think the US has had a more open and honest presidential envoy in the Middle East than Ambassador Tom Barrack, @USAMBTurkiye. It’s refreshing! He’s brutally honest - for example, about the disaster of American policy in Iraq since 2003. He doesn’t try to dress things up as a utopia. Quite the opposite! The world is changing, and the West is correcting course. The US more than anyone. I personally believe for the better. On the Houthis he’s the same way: open about the fact that we’re still trying to figure it out, especially the consequences of the new formations and alliances taking shape. We need more of this!

Iraq has completely closed the Al-Sheeb border crossing with Iran. More crossings could follow as Baghdad moves to tighten its border controls with Tehran. ✅ Iraqi PM al-Zaidi met Crown Prince bin Salman in Riyadh on Oct 14, where he reaffirmed that Iraqi territory would not be used to launch attacks against KSA or other countries

Just stumbled across Dr. Daghash bin Shabib Al-Ajmi and his post on the Muslim Brotherhood, so I had to look him up. Turns out he’s a faculty member at Kuwait University’s College of Sharia and Islamic Studies, specialised in Usool ad-Deen. He’s known for his academic work, solid ijazas in Hadith, and for speaking publicly as a religious commentator. In short, someone who actually knows the tradition! Living in Scandinavia, you become allergic to the Muslim Brotherhood fairly quickly - and for good reason! You watch how their networks expand, how they present themselves as ordinary religious organisations while systematically building parallel structures that undermine integration. They push segregation, create separate social spheres, and cultivate an ideology that keeps large parts of their communities at odds with the surrounding society! The political project is never far below the surface. In Norway we’re talking roughly 40,000 people connected to Brotherhood-linked mosques and networks. In Sweden, around 100,000. These aren’t marginal numbers - they’re large enough to shape entire neighbourhoods, influence local politics, and generate the kind of parallel societies that breed radicalisation and extremism? You also notice how often Salafism here gets mixed with Qutbism. That combination has a track record of feeding radicalisation and, in some cases, jihadism. Pretending the ideological link isn’t real doesn’t help anyone. That’s why it’s refreshing when a proper Islamic scholar says things most imams in Scandinavia carefully avoid! In the post, Al-Ajmi criticises both the Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Azhar’s Grand Imam Ahmed Al-Tayeb for pushing an immediate ceasefire that would effectively protect the Iran-backed Houthis! He argues they’re calling for a halt while ignoring the Houthis’ killings, destruction, and role in Tehran’s regional strategy! He also points out the gap between Egypt’s actual political alignment with Saudi Arabia and Al-Azhar’s more accommodating stance, and he refers to the Houthis as the “new Qarmatians.” I agree with him! You can’t demand peace while ignoring the group that has terrorised Yemen, undermined its government, and served Iranian interests! You can’t frame military action as the problem while downplaying the aggression that triggered it! And you can’t claim to care about civilians while selectively ignoring their suffering! Peace without accountability is just appeasement with better branding! We could use more Islamic scholars willing to speak this clearly in Scandinavia! Political Islam is a real problem here, and soft-pedalling it won’t make it go away!