Tehran and Moscow’s new contract for the Rasht–Astara Railway deal unlocks the final segment of a Eurasian freight artery In the latest development, Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Farzaneh Sadegh, announced on 26 October that a final contract with Russia for the construction of the Rasht–Astara Railway would …

The fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas has offered the first real opening to end the two-year war in Gaza. The outlines of a peace process have broad buy-in, with the UN Security Council approving U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed plan on November 17, but many political questions remain unresolved. …

Iran has sent the Lebanese militia Hezbollah hundreds of millions of dollars over the past year via money exchanges and other businesses in Dubai, as Tehran seeks new ways to funnel money to its ally, people familiar with the matter said. Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, is in desperate need …

On November 19, Israel’s Supreme Court gave the government 45 days to develop effective measures to combat the evasion of military service by ultra-Orthodox Jews. Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up 14% of Israel’s population, yet they serve almost exclusively in the army. This practice had been legal for the past 70 …

On November 20, some American media outlets, citing an anonymous source, leaked a 28-point plan to end the war in Ukraine, passing it off as an American peace plan, supposedly formulated as a result of lengthy US negotiations with the Russian and Ukrainian sides. In reality, the document represented proposals …

Six years after the collapse of the so-called Islamic State caliphate in March 2019, dramatic leadership changes in Washington, DC and Damascus open a rare window of opportunity to end the continuing, unlawful detentions of some 26,000 foreign ISIS suspects and family members in northeast Syria. The detainees, who come …

As Gaza faces one of the most severe post-war humanitarian crises in modern history, a crucial policy debate emerges: will displacement camps emerge to serve as a temporary humanitarian necessity, or become long-term internment sites potentially fuelling future radicalisation and conflict? Over twenty months into the Israel-Hamas war, the Gaza …

It has now been nearly three months since Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) came to power in Syria. After the joy over the end of the Assad era, all eyes are on HTS to see whether they can govern in a highly fragmented Syria and prevent a potential resurgence of the …

As Damascus enters the US-led coalition against ISIS, its relationship with Syria’s Kurds, America’s longstanding ally, remains fraught with distrust Syria became the 90th country to join the US-led multinational coalition against the Islamic State (IS) following interim president Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s cordial meeting with US President Donald Trump in the …

As Gaza’s misery deepens, secret flights approved by Israel offer a way out. But many fear they are laying the groundwork for a silent population transfer A bombshell report exposing a shadowy organisation’s secret charter flights transporting Palestinians out of Gaza has raised growing fears of an expanding policy of …