🇵🇹 Today it’s election day in Portugal and people will vote for the new President.

📃 Main parties and candidates:
🧡 Luís Marquez Mendes (PSD): Member of the Council of State
❤️ António José Seguro (PS): former Leader of the Socialist Party (2011-2014)
💙 André Ventura (CHEGA): Leader of the Opposition
💙 João Cotrim de Figueiredo (IL): Member of the European Parliament
🖤 Henrique Gouveia e Melo (Independent): former Chief of the Naval Staff (2021-2024)
❤️ Catarina Martins (BE): Member of the European Parliament
❤️ António Filipe (CDU): former Vice President of the Parliament (2002-2009, 2011-2015, 2019-2022)
💚 Jorge Pinto (LIVRE): Member of Parliament

🗳 Topics dominating the campaign are healthcare, immigration, the presidential power to dissolve the parliament, foreign policy and internal political stability.

📊 Latest polls indicate a close race between Seguro and Ventura, with both candidates estimated to receive around 25% of the vote. Cotrim Figueiredo had an exponential rise in recent months and could receive 20% of the aggregate, while Mendes and Gouveia de Melo follow from a distance (~15%).

🗳 Polling stations open at 8:00 AM and close at 7:00 PM WEST. If no candidate receives above 50%, a runoff vote between the two biggest contenders is scheduled.

🇸🇾‼️ Raqqa City has reportedly fallen to the Arab Tribal Army.


🗺 @PoliticsGR

🇸🇾⚔️🇸🇾‼️ Syrian President Ahmed Al Sharaa has signed the ceasefire, effectively integrating the SDF into government institutions.


📝 Levant 24
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🇪🇺🇺🇸🇬🇱🇨🇭 As leaders gather at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, many meetings between European and US officials are expected to take place on the sidelines of the event, with the main topic being Greenland.

Another extraordinary meeting between EU officials will take place this week. Yesterday, the European Commission presented various retaliation options, including targeting American goods with stronger tariffs.


📝 Euronews
🗺 @PoliticsGR

🇬🇷🇷🇺🛡 Former Greek Maritime Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis demanded the prohibition of Russian tankers in Greek ports, deeming them a security threat.

💬 Considering that these ships are targets for naval drones, it makes sense to ban them.


🗺 @PoliticsGR

🇱🇧🪖‼️ Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) in the South of the Litani: Hezbollah Disarmament Overview (Late 2024–2025)

As previously stated, the Lebanese Armed Forces allocated an estimated $800 million to military spending in 2025 (~$1.3 billion including foreign aid, mainly from the United States). Military expenditures peaked in 2018 at $2.78 billion and fell to their lowest point in 2022 at $171.59 million (both figures exclude foreign aid).

This report covers the period from late 2024 through 2025 and focuses specifically on the disarmament of Hezbollah south of the Litani River, near the Israeli border. Most figures below are based on numbers and information officially released by the Lebanese Army, UNIFIL, or reported by credible public sources.

Disarmament efforts were limited to areas south of the Litani River, primarily in border-adjacent zones. Operations were conducted by the LAF, often in coordination with UNIFIL, and did not extend to areas north of the Litani.


➡️ 566 launchers confiscated by the Lebanese Army.

➡️ 177 tunnels identified and neutralized by LAF units.

➡️ 300,011 military missions reported by the Lebanese Army.

➡️ 200 army positions established along the southern border.

➡️ 20 checkpoints installed in the area.

➡️ 230,000 items of military materiel seized or dealt with (the Lebanese Army did not provide a detailed breakdown by type).

➡️ 360+ weapons depots identified by UNIFIL and handed over to the Lebanese Army.

➡️ 500+ Hezbollah weapons installations and depots dismantled by April-June 2025.

➡️ Of 113 weapons caches observed, 90 were removed by the army.


◽ Joint LAF–UNIFIL operations:

➡️ 250 illegal weapons and ammunition depots addressed.

➡️ 56 tunnel-detection operations conducted by mid-2025.

➡️ 10,000+ rockets and 400+ missiles confiscated by the Lebanese Army since late November 2024.

➡️ 205,000+ unexploded munitions removed by LAF explosive-ordnance teams.

➡️ A mid-2025 UNIFIL intelligence-related report stated that ~250–300 weapons caches containing rockets, mortar shells, and ammunition were discovered since the ceasefire took effect in late 2024.

➡️ A separate Israeli military statement (early 2025) reported the discovery of storage facilities in southern Lebanon containing mortar shells, missiles, rockets, explosives, and firearms; these were confiscated and the facilities dismantled.

➡️ A UN spokesperson reported that south-of-Litani areas contained hundreds of explosive shells, rockets, anti-tank mines, and ~250 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) as part of identified caches.


◽Ongoing Presence and Patrols

➡️ LAF units have redeployed to over 120 permanent positions south of the Litani River as part of weapons-control enforcement with UNIFIL support.

➡️ The LAF now conducts vehicle patrols along the Blue Line jointly with UNIFIL, covering much of the ~120 km Israel–Lebanon border.

➡️ Since April 2025, approximately seven joint vehicle patrols per day have been conducted.

➡️ Foot patrols remain limited due to safety risks from unexploded ordnance and the proximity of Israeli forces.


◽ Confiscations by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)

These operations were conducted by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and are not part of Lebanese Army efforts, but they illustrate the overall scale of weapons in southern Lebanon from November 2024 to early 2025:

➡️ Over 85,000 items of material attributed to Hezbollah were seized in various villages (including rockets, RPGs, anti-tank missiles, explosives, and vehicles).

➡️ ~6,840 rocket and anti-tank launchers.

➡️ ~9,000 explosive devices.

➡️ ~2,250 rounds/missiles and shells

➡️ ~60 anti-aircraft missiles.

➡️ ~20 vehicles.



‼️ Finding exact figures for military spending is difficult, so the numbers provided should be considered approximate estimates. Most disarmament numbers presented here can be considered generally verified, while for a few figures, official confirmation from Lebanese government sources or UNIFIL is missing, as they prefer to maintain balance within the country.

For disarmament data, if you want to verify something yourself, specify exactly which figure you are looking for and use the numbers given here as a reference. Searching more generally will likely be difficult, even with AI. Official numbers are probably higher, as precise details or similar information are rarely released publicly for security reasons.

Sources: L’Orient Today, UNIFIL official website, English News CN, AP News, Times of Israel, Israel National News, Ynet News, Naharnet, Reuters, The National, Al Jazeera, Asharq Al‑Awsat, Defense News, ABC News, LBCI, New York Post, MTV, US Central Command/CENTCOM & statements by Lebanese officials.


🗺 @PoliticsGR

🇦🇲 Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, Ruben Rubinyan responding to criticism over the TRIPP route.

“Any person who knows how to read can read the published document, and it is a document stating that there will be no corridor. (...). This document clearly states in black and white [that] security is maintained by the relevant bodies of Armenia, it is written in black and white that there will be appropriate passport and customs procedures, it is written in black and white that Armenian border guards and representatives of other relevant departments will be physically present at the relevant passport and customs points, and it is written a thousand times that everything will take place within the framework of Armenia’s territorial integrity, sovereignty, and jurisdiction. Especially for the skeptical, it is written that sovereign functions will not be delegated. Therefore, it is impossible to see a ‘corridor’ here.”

🗺 @PoliticsGR

🇸🇾⚔️‼️ Intense clashes are reported near Jalabiya between SDF units and Syrian government forces with allied militias.

🗺 @PoliticsGR

🇹🇷✊‼️ Footage from Turkey shows Kurds staging protests in response to the ongoing attacks and killings of Kurdish civilians in Syria.


🗺 @PoliticsGR

🇯🇵‼️ Japan's PM Sanae Takaichi will call a national election on 8 February to seek voter support for her agenda, which includes increased spending, tax cuts and a new security strategy.

Takaichi plans to dissolve parliament on Friday. It is her first election since taking office in October and she plans to capitalise on high support.


📝 Reuters
🗺 @PoliticsGR