Middle Orient

Damascus has registered clear gains on arresting and deporting Palestinian militants and cooperating against the Islamic State, though its progress on addressing foreign fighters is mixed, and it has stalled on the more politically complex tracks of normalizing with Israel and controlling IS detention facilities. On November 10, Syrian President …

A long-awaited ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is finally underway, though tensions are already taking root. An end to the conflict is still up in the air, with all the old obstacles remaining in Trump’s twenty-point roadmap to peace. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday ordered “ immediate, powerful …

Iranian-backed Iraqi political parties are well-positioned to expand their influence after the parliamentary elections on November 11—so long as they remain unified. The parties have political advantages now that they did not have during the last elections in October 2021. Their ability to remain united after the elections will determine …

On October 14, four days after Israel and Hamas agreed to phase one of US President Donald Trump’s 20-Point Ceasefire Plan for Gaza, Trump addressed the Israeli Knesset. “After so many years of unceasing war and endless danger, today the skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens are …

Alors que les Émirats arabes unis se présentent comme un artisan de la paix et un opposant au prétendu « radicalisme islamique », ils sont actuellement impliqués dans des génocides à Gaza et au Soudan. Établir ces liens est essentiel pour comprendre les objectifs globaux du régime. Les Émirats arabes …

Abbas’s succession decree opts for continuity over reform, failing to address both the deep unpopularity of the Palestinian Authority, and its inefficiency Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas issued a constitutional decree late in October establishing Hussein al-Sheikh as the designated successor to the presidency, a move that reveals deep …

This year’s West Bank olive harvest was marred by continued attacks by Israeli settlers and the military, amid the continued expansion of illegal outposts. Israeli military and settler violence in the occupied West Bank reached unprecedented levels last month, with more than 2,000 assaults reported, the Palestinian Colonisation and Wall …

Tainted metal scrap sourced from conflict zones can ultimately become finished steel used by some of Europe’s top firms. The Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism Association (SIRAJ) and El País co-published a set of edited versions of this investigation. Ahmad* is 11 and has lost his hacksaw – or …

When Syria’s new president Ahmad Sharaa came to power last December, dismantling the decades-old Assad regime, he promised a clean break from the corruption, nepotism, and privilege that had defined Syrian governance for half a century. Yet within months, that pledge would be tested—not by generals or ministers, but by …

The group includes ambassadors, consuls, and administrative officials, now restored to their prior positions within the Ministry. The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has issued a decree reinstating 19 diplomats who had previously defected from the former regime. The group includes ambassadors, consuls, and administrative officials, now restored …