Middle Orient

Ever since October 7, egged on by Iran, Hezbollah has been escalating its cross-border clashes with Israel, while its leader Hassan Nasrallah has been stepping up his blood-curdling rhetoric, predicting Armageddon if Israel were to launch all-out war. Yet the truth is that Iran-Hezbollah would like nothing better. They have …

La lutte contre la menace «islamiste» a été le prétexte à la guerre contre le terrorisme initiée par George W. Bush après le 11 septembre 2001. C’est dans le cadre de cette guerre que les États-Unis et leurs alliés ont attaqué et occupé l’Afghanistan puis l’Irak. On n’a pas besoin …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a delegation led by Mossad Director David Barnea to Doha, Qatar on July 5 to continue ceasefire talks.[i] Barnea met with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani on July 5 to build discussions on the ceasefire proposal Hamas submitted to Israel on …

While persuading Iran to roll back its nuclear programme at this stage may be difficult, the US and its allies can and should seek to reinforce Tehran’s perception that a decision to weaponise the programme would increase Iranian isolation and insecurity. In recent months, unsettling rhetoric from senior Iranian individuals …

Analysis: While Turkey has halted all trade with Israel amid the Gaza war, Azerbaijan continues to supply Tel Aviv with oil. Amid global attention on pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the world, notably on US university campuses, another significant boycott campaign has been brewing in Turkey, albeit against Azerbaijan’s ties with Israel. …

A decade since the Islamic State declared its ‘caliphate’ in Iraq and Syria, its legacy of violence continues to shape the country’s path towards recovery. On 29 June 2014, the Islamic State (IS) declared a “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria, appointing Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as their leader, a declaration deemed …

Like a wounded animal, vicious but aimless, Israel is lashing out at Lebanon. But, as Emad Moussa writes, Hezbollah won’t be deterred by wider regional war. The prospect of an all-out war between Israel and Lebanon reached new heights on July 3 after the Israeli army assassinated senior Hezbollah commander, …

In-depth: Over 20,000 children in Gaza are lost, detained, disappeared, or buried in mass graves or under rubble amid Israel’s relentless war. A report published by British aid group Save the Children last week found that up to 21,000 children are estimated to be missing in Gaza, with at least …

In-depth: A quiet move to transfer power over the West Bank from military to civilian officials amounts to a formal annexation of the Palestinian territory. Israel’s Civil Administration, the governing military body in the West Bank, quietly transferred power in May to a civilian official under far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich …

Recent Iranian polls show that moderate Masoud Pezeshkian is leading over ultraconservative hardliner Saeed Jalili in the Iranian presidential race.[i] The runoff election will occur on July 5. The Iranian Students Polling Agency (ISPA) published a poll on July 4 showing that Pezeshkian has a 5.6 percent lead over Jalili.[ii] …