Dan Sabbagh

Reporter @guardian. Defence and security editor.

[Andrew Marr @AndrewMarr9]

I am now reliably informed by sources that something is going to happen. Or else it is not. But don’t pass this on…

[Jakub Krupa @JakubKrupa]

“Ruszkik haza!” on the Budapest metro.

What a moment.

[John Healey @JohnHealey_MP]

The strike on RAF Akrotiri last night is deeply concerning, an example of the dangerous and indiscriminate attacks by Iran & its proxies across the region.

Our best assessment is that the drone was fired before the Prime Minister's statement last night on the US use of UK bases.

[Claire Parker @cairo_claire1]

Laid off from the Washington Post, along with the entire roster of Middle East correspondents and our editors. Hard to understand the logic. But I am grateful for my incredible colleagues, whose grit and dedication to the reporting and each other I will miss dearly.

[Lizzie Johnson @lizziejohnsonnn]

I was just laid off by The Washington Post in the middle of a warzone. I have no words. I'm devastated.

[Sir William Browder KCMG @Billbrowder]

At the Ukraine breakfast in Davos, Belgian PM is trying to explain why he blocked the confiscation of frozen Russian assets. He claims the EU doing so is an “act of war”. It’s nonsense. I think he’s been personally threatened.

[Dan Sabbagh @dansabbagh]

another US partner in the war on terror abandoned

[Ambassador Tom Barrack @USAMBTurkiye]

The greatest opportunity for the Kurds in Syria right now lies in the post-Assad transition under the new government led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa. This moment offers a pathway to full integration into a unified Syrian state with citizenship rights, cultural protections, and political participation— long denied under Bashar al-Assad’s regime, where many Kurds faced statelessness, language restrictions, and systemic discrimination.

Historically, the US military presence in northeastern Syria was justified primarily as a counter-ISIS partnership. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by Kurds, proved the most effective ground partner in defeating ISIS’s territorial caliphate by 2019, detaining thousands of ISIS fighters and family members in prisons and camps like al-Hol and al-Shaddadi. At that time, there was no functioning central Syrian state to partner with—the Assad regime was weakened, contested, and not a viable partner against ISIS due to its alliances with Iran and Russia.

Today, the situation has fundamentally changed. Syria now has an acknowledged central government that has joined the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS (as its 90th member in late 2025), signaling a westward pivot and cooperation with the US on counterterrorism. This shifts the rationale for the US-SDF partnership: the original purpose of the SDF as the primary anti-ISIS force on the ground has largely expired, as Damascus is now both willing and positioned to take over security responsibilities, including control of ISIS detention facilities and camps.

Recent developments show the US actively facilitating this transition, rather than prolonging a separate SDF role:

• We have engaged extensively with the Syrian Government and SDF leadership to secure an integration agreement, signed on January 18, and to set a clear pathway for timely and peaceful implementation.

• The deal integrates SDF fighters into the national military (as individuals, which remains among the most contentious issues), hand over key infrastructure (oil fields, dams, border crossings), and cede control of ISIS prisons and camps to Damascus.

• The US has no interest in long-term military presence; it prioritizes defeating ISIS remnants, supporting reconciliation, and advancing national unity without endorsing separatism or federalism.

This creates a unique window for the Kurds: integration into the new Syrian state offers full citizenship rights (including for those previously stateless), recognition as an integral part of Syria, constitutional protections for Kurdish language and culture (e.g., teaching in Kurdish, celebrating Nawruz as a national holiday), and participation in governance—far beyond the semi-autonomy the SDF held amid civil war chaos.

While risks remain (e.g., fragile ceasefires, occasional clashes, concerns over hardliners, or the desire of some actors to relitigate past grievances), the United States is pushing for safeguards on Kurdish rights and counter-ISIS cooperation. The alternative—prolonged separation—could invite instability or ISIS resurgence. This integration, backed by US diplomacy, represents the strongest chance yet for Kurds to secure enduring rights and security within a recognized Syrian nation-state.

In Syria, the United States is focused on: 1) ensuring the security of prison facilities holding ISIS prisoners, currently guarded by the SDF; and 2) facilitating talks between the SDF and the Syrian Government to allow for the peaceful integration of the SDF and the political inclusion of Syria’s Kurdish population into a historic full Syrian citizenship.

[Dan Sabbagh @dansabbagh]

How long did it take to get round to that?

[16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team @16AirAssltBCT]

🗣️“... a weapon that can hit bigger targets more quickly than the infantry used to be able to do.”

2nd Bn @TheParachuteReg's pioneering Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Platoon is training to fly and fight with #FPV drones.

Read more⤵️
https://t.co/1NnvsatQ0y

[Peter Ricketts @LordRickettsP]

Starmer’s convening of Macron, Merz and Zelensky tomorrow is well timed. Witkoff tried to repeat his Gaza gambit by producing a hasty ‘peace plan’ and trying to railroad it. That was never going to work, and his current roadshow with Kushner won’t resolve the core issues 1/6.

[Dan Sabbagh @dansabbagh]

Extraordinary progress made in counter drone technology by Ukrainian defenders

[Serhii Sternenko @sternenko]

Дуже красиве збиття Шахеда понад хмарами.

Оператори 1129-го Білоцерківського ЗРП збили його вашим дроном-перехоплювачем. Насолодіться красою!

Триває наш терміновий збір на 10 млн. Лишилося не так багато дозібрати.
Донатьте на Шахедоріз!

[Dan Sabbagh @dansabbagh]

Bohdan 41, and Ivan, 45, both Ukrainian machine gunners, spent 62 days at the front line, hiding from drones, mostly in a small basement after their first position was discovered. These are the people who really hold the line...

https://t.co/gKIfkwOhCY

[Dan Sabbagh @dansabbagh]

..oh in case you missed it, earlier he said Nigel Farage was "soft on Putin".

[Dan Sabbagh @dansabbagh]

Watching a rare speech from def sec John Healey in 9 Downing St. A special outing from Labour's safest pair of hands in an attempt to short up messy budget pitch rolling, justifying boost to defence budgets. "We're getting on with the job we were elected to do," he says.

[Dan Sabbagh @dansabbagh]

Russian spy ship Yantar on the edge of UK waters. Healey says he has changed Navy's rules of engagement + "we have military options ready" in case ship changes course. Threat comes after Russian drones and planes entered Nato airspace this autumn...

[Dan Sabbagh @dansabbagh]

A row out of nowhere, a politicised leak, a sudden double resignation. A coup from the inside too?

https://t.co/meVN3MR4nv

[Dan Sabbagh @dansabbagh]

Stephen Parkinson, DPP, had decided Sept 3 to drop the case. Only senior civil servants could be informed (incl Powell). Not clear when Starmer + Cooper were told (and doesn't look like they could intervene) - case was publicly dropped Sept 15.

Questions for Parkinson...

[Dan Sabbagh @dansabbagh]

Tory spy case accusations backfiring...

Rishi Sunak was sent a copy of first witness statement in the spy case says Jonathan Powell + Matthew Collins.

Powell says he 'played no role' in subsequent evidence when in govt

[Robert Peston @Peston]

I am told that the director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson has just told some of parliament’s most senior MPs - chairs of home, justice, foreign and security committees - that the evidence provided by the government’s witness in the China spy case, the deputy national security adviser, was “5% less than the evidence threshold that was needed.”

Parkinson told the MPs that the deputy national security adviser, Matthew Collins, had made it clear to the Crown Prosecution Service he was not going to provide the additional 5%. Which is why Parkinson canned the case. And as I said earlier, he informed the Attorney General Hermer of his decision to kibosh the prosecution.

The MPs were surprised by what Parkinson told them, to put it mildly. They asked why Parkinson did not get a second expert witness, to fill in the small gap left by Collins. The DPP in essence said that is not the way the CPS operates.

He was also pressed by the MPs about why he would not take the risk of putting the case to a jury. He claimed he did not believe a judge would let it get that far.

The MPs were not convinced. One said: “he was just a bit wet about the whole thing. He should have taken the risk of prosecuting and have let a jury decide.”

[Jakub Krupa @JakubKrupa]

Poland’s foreign minister has accused Russia of a “tactically stupid & counterproductive” escalation of the war in Ukraine, saying its drone incursion into Poland appeared to be deliberate.

⁦@guardian’s ⁦@dansabbagh talks w/ @sikorskiradek⁩ https://t.co/c757itnOqZ

[Dan Sabbagh @dansabbagh]

An Iranian designed Shahed 136 drone is unveiled at the Speakers House in parliament. It has been decommissioned, guests are assured...