Category: Uncategorized

The White House has released the names of the members who will be part of the senior executive working with his new “Board of Peace” for Gaza.

With the US president as chair, the founding “Executive Board” will oversee the work of a committee of technocrats tasked with the temporary governance of Gaza – and its reconstruction.

Each member is expected to be in charge of a portfolio that will be “critical to Gaza’s stabilisation”, the White House has said. But it is not yet clear who will be responsible for which priorities.

There will also be a separate “Gaza Executive Board” – responsible for overseeing all on-the-ground work of yet another administrative group, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG).

Meanwhile, the Board of Peace is expected to sit above these two executive bodies and comprise a number of world leaders.

No women and no Palestinians have been announced so far at the top level, but the White House said additional members will be announced over the coming weeks.

So, who is on the Executive Board?

Former UK Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair had long been talked about as a potential member of Trump’s “Board of Peace”, with the US president confirming back in September that he had expressed an interest in joining the body.

The former Labour Party leader was the UK prime minister from 1997 to 2007 and took the country into the Iraq War in 2003, a decision which means some may view his presence on the board as controversial.

After leaving office, he served as Middle East envoy for the Quartet of international powers – the United Nations, European Union, US and Russia – from 2007 to 2015.

Sir Tony is the only founding member of the executive board who is not a US citizen.

He previously described Trump’s plans for Gaza as the “best chance of ending two years of war, misery and suffering”.

In a statement, Sir Tony said he was “honoured” to be named on the executive board, and thanked president Trump for his leadership in establishing the group.

He will also serve on the Gaza Executive Board.

As US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio is central to the Trump administration’s approach to foreign policy.

Before Trump’s return to office, Rubio had spoken out against a ceasefire in Gaza, saying that he wanted Israel “to destroy every element of Hamas they can get their hands on”.

But he has since praised the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal signed in October as the “best” and “only” plan.

Also in October, Rubio criticised a move by the Israeli parliament towards annexation of the occupied West Bank.

US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, a real estate magnate and golf partner to Trump, will also serve on the Gaza Executive Board.

Earlier this month, Witkoff announced the start of phase two of Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza, adding that it would see the reconstruction and full demilitarisation of Gaza – including the disarmament of Hamas.

He added that he expects Hamas to “comply fully with its obligations” under the deal, or face “serious consequences”.

Witkoff has been a central figure in US-led efforts to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, including holding a five-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in December.

Jared Kushner, the US president’s son-in-law, has also played a key role in the Trump administration’s foreign policy negotiations.

Alongside Witkoff, Kushner has often worked as a US mediator for the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza wars, and he will now also serve on the Gaza Executive Board.

In November, he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss key sticking points in the peace deal.

At a talk at Harvard University in 2024, Kushner said “Gaza’s waterfront property could be very valuable… if people would focus on building up livelihoods.”

Billionaire Marc Rowan is the CEO of Apollo Global Management, a large private equity firm headquartered in New York.

Rowan was seen as a contender to become US treasury secretary for Trump’s second term. He will also be a member of the Gaza Executive Board.

Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank, has advised a number of senior US politicians, including President Barack Obama, during his lengthy career.

Born in India in 1959, Banga became a US citizen in 2007, and later served as the CEO of Mastercard for more than a decade.

Former US President Joe Biden nominated him to lead the World Bank in 2023.

Robert Gabriel, a US national security adviser, will be the final member of the “founding executive board”.

Gabriel has worked with Trump since his 2016 presidential campaign, shortly after which, according to PBS, he became a special assistant to Stephen Miller, another of Trump’s key current advisers.

While not on the Executive Board, Nickolay Mladenov, a Bulgarian politician and former UN Middle East envoy, will be the Board of Peace’s representative on the ground in Gaza, the White House has said.

He will sit on the Gaza Executive board and oversee a separate 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), charged with managing the day-to-day governance of post-war Gaza.

The NCAG will be led by Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister in the Palestinian Authority (PA) which governs parts of the occupied West Bank not under Israeli control.

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that members of the executive boards were members of the Board of Peace.

The Syrian army is moving into areas east of Aleppo city, after Kurdish forces started a withdrawal.

Syrian troops have been spotted entering Deir Hafer, a town about 50km (30 miles) from Aleppo.

On Friday, the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia announced it would redeploy east of the Euphrates river. This follows talks with US officials, and a pledge from Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to make Kurdish a national language.

After deadly clashes last week, the US urged both sides to avoid a confrontation. President al-Sharaa is seeking to integrate the Kurds’ military and civilian bodies into Syrian national institutions.

In a statement to state-run news agency Sana, the Syrian army said its forces “began entering the western Euphrates area”, and declared it had established “full military control” of Deir Hafer.

The military urged civilians not to enter the operations area until it is secured and “cleared it of all mines and war remnants”.

Images showed Syrian forces advancing towards the area, including with tanks.

The move comes after Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi agreed to pull back his US-backed SDF “towards redeployment in areas east of the Euphrates”, responding to “calls from friendly countries and mediators”.

US special envoy Tom Barrack and Mazloum Abdi are set to meet later on Saturday in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

In recent days, the Syrian army had urged civilians to flee the Deir Hafer area, with at least 4,000 people leaving, according to Syrian authorities.

Before the Kurdish withdrawal, President al-Sharaa said he would make Kurdish a national language, and recognise the Kurdish new year as an official holiday.

The decree, announced on Friday, is the first formal recognition of Kurdish national rights since Syria’s independence in 1946. It stated that Kurds were “an essential and integral part” of Syria, where they have endured decades of oppression under previous rulers.

Despite the apparent easing of tensions, disagreements linger. In response to the decree, the Kurdish administration in Syria’s north and north-east said it was “a first step” but called for “permanent constitutions that express the will of the people”, rather than “temporary decrees”.

Both sides have accused each other of violating the terms of the agreement. Syria’s army said two of its soldiers had been killed by Kurdish forces as the military moved in, while the SDF accused Damascus of sending troops in early.

Kurdish forces have been controlling swathes of Syria’s oil-rich north and north-east, much of it gained during the civil war and the fight against the Islamic State group over the past decade.

Following the ousting of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, President al-Sharaa has been seeking to integrate the Kurdish bodies into Syrian institutions.

In March 2025, the SDF signed a deal with the government to that effect. Almost a year on, the agreement is still not implemented, with each sides blaming the other.