Middle Orient

Forty years have passed this fall since my first travel to Lebanon and it happened ever since to return there many times and to spend more than four years in the beautiful Cedars country; I had during the time the opportunity of meeting relevant Lebanese personalities such as the late …

Speaking at a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Blinken said Washington had to conduct some reviews. The United States is prepared to move forward with the sale of F-35 fighter jets and drones to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday, after reports …

The Saudi representative to the UN said the “entire Muslim world” will recognize Israel if it withdraws to the Green Line. The “entire Muslim world” will normalize relations with Israel once it withdraws to the ’67 boundary, Saudi Arabia’s representative to the United Nations, Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, said in an interview …

A “rocket alert” map displaying a list of targets Iran would strike including pins in Lebanese territory and on Palestinian cities. An Iranian newspaper published a map on Wednesday threatening Israel with missile attacks. The map shows pins representing rocket alerts for dozens of potential targets, including Lebanese territory and …

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Tuesday said a solution to the dispute in ethnically divided Cyprus must follow the UN-endorsed road map for reunification of the island in a federal framework, and be based on international law rather than promoting “aggressive activities or expansionist tendencies.” His remarks, seen as …

While the United Arab Emirates seems to really want to buy F-35 fighter jets from the United States , conditions placed by the US on the sale could lead the UAE to scrap the whole sale. The UAE on Tuesday told the US that it was suspending discussions on the …

Arab Gulf countries meeting in Saudi Arabia called on Iran to ease tension and make progress in its nuclear talks with the world powers, and Iran just may be listening. The final communique issued at the end of the 42nd Gulf Cooperation Council summit on Tuesday in Riyadh said that …

Qatar is enhancing its presence in the eastern Mediterranean that is rich in oil and gas reserves at a time when tensions are ripping through the region over the maritime borders and excavation rights. Qatar has strengthened its presence in the eastern Mediterranean, which is rich in oil and gas …

The slight victory of candidates supporting Fatah in the local council elections appear to have boosted the morale of the Palestinian leadership and opened the door for elections in major cities. Will the Hamas leadership agree to that in Gaza? Ever since his April 31 decision to scrap the legislative …

Increasingly, compliance with US sanctions against Iran could emerge as a litmus test of the United Arab Emirates’ close ties to the United States. At the sharp edge of a potential rift between the allies is a reportedly recently concluded agreement by a private UAE company to build gas-fired thermal, …