Terrorism Watch

Malaysia, as the 2025 chair of Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), is facing significant challenges in reviving the stalled peace process in southern Thailand, amid rising tensions and political uncertainty in Bangkok. Observers point to instability within Thailand’s current 11-member coalition government as a major obstacle. The Thai government is led by Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the country’s youngest prime minister. The 37-year-old, daughter of ex-prime minister and billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, was appointed as prime minister in August 2024 after her father’s Pheu Thai Party formed a government with support from 10 other parties, including military-aligned factions. This followed the Constitutional Court’s dissolution of the election-winning Move Forward Party over its campaign to amend the royal insult law. “The current government is unstable, comprising many parties with differing views, making it difficult for them to reach consensus on the Deep South conflict. Some ...

Donald Trump has met Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Saudi Arabia and said that Washington is exploring normalising ties with Syria, a day after an announcement that all US sanctions on Syria would be lifted. The US president met Sharaa, a former militant who fought against US forces in Iraq, before a conference of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), part of Trump’s four-day visit to the Middle East, where he is expected to court Gulf allies for investments in the US. Trump is due to land in Doha next, where he will meet the Qatari leader, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. Pictures showed the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, sitting in the room as Trump and Sharaa met in Riyadh, flanked by the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the Syrian foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani. The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, joined the meeting by telephone, according to the Turkish Anadolu news agency. According to a White House spokesperson, Trump urged Sharaa to “de...