Your regional news round-up

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet US President Donald Trump in Florida on Monday, with the US pushing to move to the next stage of the fragile Gaza truce plan. The crucial meeting at Mr Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort will also focus on Iran.
• The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss Israel’s surprise recognition of Somaliland. Somalia, which will assume the council presidency in January, requested the meeting after Israel announced the move on Friday.
• A growing number of countries and international organisations have condemned Israel’s decision. The Arab League affirmed that the illegal recognition constitutes an attack on "Arab national security" and an attempt to undermine regional and international security and peace.
• Israeli presence in Somaliland will be considered a “military target,” Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels warned. “We consider any Israeli presence in Somaliland a military target for our armed forces, as it constitutes aggression against Somalia and Yemen, and a threat to the security of the region,” said the group's chief Abdulmalik Al Houthi.
• Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council chief Rashad Al Alimi said the government had formally asked the Saudi-led coalition to take “immediate measures” to counter recent military moves by the Southern Transitional Council.
• Violence broke out on Sunday as thousands of protesters from Syria's Alawite minority took to the streets in coastal and central parts of the country, two days after a mosque bombing killed eight people. State news agency Sana reported that three people were killed and 60 were wounded in attacks on security forces and civilians “by remnants of the defunct regime” during the protests in the coastal city of Latakia.

Other developments

• Seven Turkish police officers were injured during a clash with suspected ISIS militants in northwest Turkey's Yalova province on Monday, state broadcaster TRT Haber reported.
• Syria has said that three people were rescued and four are missing after they illegally attempted to cross a river on the Syrian-Lebanese border. The incident occurred near the villages of Al Shabruniyeh and Al Dabbousiyeh, close to the town of Talkalakh in western Homs province.
• Iraq's National Political Council, comprising the country's Sunni parliamentary blocs, nominated the Taqadum Party's Haibat Al Halbousi as the candidate for Speaker of Parliament ahead of the first session of the legislature's newly elected term, scheduled for Monday.

More goings-on

• A Palestinian child drowned after falling into a water-filled ditch as winter storms battered the Gaza Strip. Atta Mamoun, 7, from Beit Lahia, fell into a crevice created by heavy rainfall.
• A 2.9-magnitude earthquake was recorded south of the Omani exclave of Musandam and was “slightly felt” in the UAE. The National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) said the earthquake occurred at a depth of 5km.
• The UAE and Norway have joined forces to increase humanitarian aid efforts for refugees beset by conflict in East Africa. The UAE International Aid Agency signed a co-operation agreement with the Norwegian Refugee Council to provide additional support to displaced citizens and to assist host communities for refugees in Ethiopia, Uganda, and other countries in the region.

Happening today

• Trump meets Netanyahu in Florida
• UN Security Council discusses Somaliland
• Iraq's new parliament holds first session

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This newsletter was compiled by Mohamad Ali Harisi, Foreign Editor.

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