Middle Orient

Muslim Ra’am under Mansour Abbas made history June 13, becoming the first Arab party ever to be part of the coalition and government. By one vote, with a majority of 60 to 59, Israel’s new government was approved and Yamina leader Naftali Bennett sworn in as the 13th prime minister …

The global clout of OPEC, never one of the world’s most admired institutions, reached a nadir in April when a dispute between Saudi Arabia and Russia triggered a price war just as global oil demand was collapsing due to the coronavirus pandemic. Three months later, the cartel has re-emerged as …

Ankara sees a recently ratified security cooperation deal between Turkey and the Palestinian Authority as groundwork for a possible maritime boundary agreement between Turkey and Palestine. Experts see such prospects as far-fetched. As the Holy Land emerges from a fresh round of clashes, Turkey has ratified a comprehensive cooperation agreement …

The two leaders’ first meeting as heads of state led to detailed discussions, but there were no breakthroughs. The long-awaited meeting today between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Joe Biden went pretty much as expected, with none of the big issues poisoning ties between the NATO allies …

President Joe Biden will seek to stave off another surge of civilian suffering in the devastating war in Syria when he meets President Vladimir Putin this week, appealing to Putin to drop a threat to close the last aid crossing into that country. Russian forces have helped Syrian President Bashar …

Israel’s fragile new government has shown little interest in addressing the decades-old conflict with the Palestinians, but it may not have a choice. Jewish ultranationalists are already staging provocations aimed at splitting the coalition and bringing about a return to right-wing rule. In doing so, they risk escalating tensions with …

The prosecutor of Jordan’s state security court on Sunday filed sedition and incitement charges against two confidants of King Abdullah II’s half-brother Hamzah, marking the latest step in a rare, intrigue-filled palace drama that has rattled the Western-backed kingdom. The affair erupted into the open in early April when Hamzah …

A number of fires broke out in southern Israel on Tuesday, with at least 20 of them sparked by incendiary balloons launched from Gaza. The IDF struck a number of military sites belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night in response to 20 fires sparked by incendiary …

US President Joe Biden on Monday said he had a “positive and productive” meeting with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Brussels, promising to “continue discussions and … make real progress” with Ankara. The two leaders held the face-to-face – their first since Biden took office – on the sidelines …

Bill is last-ditch effort to stop Biden from awarding Iran with billions of dollars in sanctions relief Senate Republicans introduced on Friday legislation that would require President Joe Biden to obtain congressional approval before he signs any new nuclear deal with Iran, according to a copy of that bill obtained …