Middle Orient

A “bloc” of lawmakers, political parties, media outlets, and non-governmental organizations are peddling a platform that distracts attention from the paramount importance of disarming Hezbollah and instead blames banks for the utter misery that Lebanon finds itself in. Such an argument is either too dumb, or its proponents are too …

Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa has a lot to prove to win over Western powers. If the first few weeks of his rule are anything to go by, he may be heading in the wrong direction. The West is watching Syria’s leaders closely to ensure they rein in the Islamist jihadis …

Latest Developments Gaza Protests Enter Third Day, Terror Groups Issue Threat: Gazan protestors took to the streets on March 27 for the third consecutive day to express their anger at Hamas for continuing its war with Israel. Demonstrators chanted slogans including “Out, out Hamas.” Hamas official Osama Hamdan accused the …

When Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visited U.S. President Donald Trump in early February 2025, he gifted him a golden pager, an allusion to Israel’s booby trapping of thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon that had been ordered by Hezbollah, intercepted by Israel and turned into lethal weapons. The …

The road to Iran’s freedom is paved with well-intentioned U.S. grants — but intent alone has never toppled a dictatorship. The Trump administration’s broad pause on foreign assistance includes a hold on funding distributed by the Near East Regional Democracy (NERD) program, which is aimed at supporting democracy in Iran. …

Top Iranian officials reportedly authorized Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi to “advance any diplomatic initiative in relation to the United States,” according to an Iranian expert close to the regime.[1] It is not clear who precisely authorized Araghchi to begin “any diplomatic initiative,” but Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would …

E_064_25Download

Self-determination movements of former colonies often advanced together toward independence. The ideological backing of socialist states in the Eastern Bloc and various Asian and Islamic countries fueled many anti-colonial movements. However, this left-Islamist alliance has adopted starkly different stances on the Kurdish and Palestinian struggles. This disparity has led to …

It was only a matter of time until the Haya’t Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) gunmen of Syria’s post-Bashar al-Assad interim government took violence against non-Sunni Muslims into their own hands. Reports emerged early on March 9 about large-scale round-ups, home invasions and subsequent street executions of Alawite Syrians in the Alawi …

Since September 27, the region has experienced significant escalation following the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah and senior Hezbollah leaders, Assad’s primary ally. This was compounded three days later by an Israeli ground incursion into southern Lebanon and statements from Israeli officials regarding the establishment of a new Middle East. In …