Middle Orient

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Israel killed prominent Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif alongside four other journalists in a targeted strike on their tent in Gaza City on Sunday. “Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif has been killed alongside four colleagues in a targeted Israeli attack on a tent housing journalists in Gaza City,” the Qatar-based …

Representatives of the diverse communities of north and east Syria convened this week for a landmark conference, issuing a final declaration that set out a vision for a democratic, decentralised Syria built on equal citizenship and shared governance. The gathering brought together Kurdish, Arab, Syriac Assyrian, Turkmen, Armenian, and Circassian …

In Israel, the Druze community occupies a complex position: celebrated as loyal citizens by the state, yet subject to systemic inequalities that have persisted since the 1950s. Their story has returned to the spotlight amid speculation about Israel’s intentions toward Syria’s Druze-majority Suweida province — a prospect that analysts say …

Bottom Line Up Front Trump officials have given Lebanon’s government an ultimatum to take control of Lebanese Hezbollah’s arsenal of heavy weapons or forgo U.S. efforts to compel Israel to withdraw from its positions in southern Lebanon. U.S. officials expect Lebanon’s cabinet, at a meeting this week, to issue an …

Bottom Line Up Front Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to reoccupy all of the Gaza Strip has caused tensions with his defense establishment and with his allies in Washington. Top Israel Defense Forces (IDF) leaders and the families of remaining Israeli hostages are trying to scuttle the re-occupation plan, …

In Altneuland, the Austro-Hungarian journalist and Zionist pioneer Theodor Herzl, swept up by the romantic nationalism and ethnic rivalries of the late Habsburg empire, painted a portrait of the promised land to come, where Jews and Arabs would join together in the mutually beneficial development of what was then Ottoman …

There are times when it is difficult to bring myself to my writer’s desk, when I know there is something that desperately needs to be acknowledged, but I barely have the words for it. And if I could find them, I ask myself what effect could one small voice possibly …

The Lebanese Council of Ministers agreed on August 7 to the objectives of US Envoy Thomas Barrack’s proposal to disarm Hezbollah.[1] The proposal’s objectives include a phased plan to completely disarm Hezbollah by December 31, 2025, and to ensure an Israeli withdrawal from its five permanent positions in southern Lebanon.[2] …

Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah group stands at a pivotal juncture, forced to weigh its future amid unprecedented US pressure to relinquish its weapons following a costly war last year that eroded its longstanding dominance over Lebanon’s security decisions. The Iran-backed militant group, which has dominated Lebanese politics and security since Israel’s …