Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.

Reuters – Syrian army forces backed by Iranian-backed militias pushed deeper into the last rebel-held enclave near a strategic border area with Israel and Lebanon in a new expansion of Tehran’s influence in the war-torn country.  

Sun – THE husband of jailed Brit mum Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe is still hopeful of being home in time for her Boxing Day birthday.

washingtonpost — Iran’s Supreme Court has approved the death sentence of an Iranian researcher accused of spying for Israel.

CHRI – Prisoner Alireza Golipour, who suffers from epilepsy, has threatened to go on a life-threatening hunger strike again if judicial authorities do not carry out their promise to review his case and release him on medical grounds, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned.

aljazeera – An ambitious Israeli cabinet minister, a thrusting Saudi crown prince, a son-in-law of a US president and a long-abandoned railway. Could this be the start of an anti-Iran axis that in a further twist of an extraordinary tale pulls a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians like a rabbit out of a hat?