October, 2025

• 20 October

  Deadly Clashes Erupt Between Hamas and Gaza Clan After Ceasefire

  

  Several people were killed over the weekend in Gaza City in violent clashes between Hamas security forces and the members of an armed clan, multiple sources reported on Monday. Skirmishes first broke out last week between the Palestinian Islamist group and the Doghmush clan after a ceasefire between Israel and …

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• 20 October

  Syrian Kurdish Leader Says Reached First Deal on Merging Forces With Regular Army

  

  Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi has announced to AFP that he had reached a “preliminary agreement” with Damascus on the integration of his troops into Syria’s military and security forces. Abdi, who heads the powerful Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), had met Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus last week, …

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• 20 October

  Hamas Launches Gaza Crackdown as Trump Vows to Disarm Group

  

  Hamas tightened its grip on Gaza’s ruined cities Tuesday, launching a crackdown and executing alleged collaborators, even as US President Donald Trump vowed to disarm the group. The Israeli military said the remains of four more hostages held in Gaza had been brought into Israel, a day after Hamas handed …

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• 20 October

  What will the Palestine deal unleash?

  

  Amid the immediate joy of the hostage families, and the victorious crowing of the American President, Gaza’s peace plan may yet produce a long truce. Beyond the politicking of outsiders — Donald Trump’s quest for personal glory, Qatar’s desire to draw closer to the White House — fatigue among the …

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• 20 October

  How to Free Palestine: Turning the Gaza Cease-Fire Into Lasting Peace

  

  Forging a durable, just, and comprehensive peace in the Middle East should mimic the construction of a bridge. On one side, the architects of peace must build forward from where they stand today: negotiate a cease-fire agreement, uphold it, and point it toward a lasting settlement. On the opposite side, …

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• 20 October

  The Autumn of the Ayatollahs

  

  For the first time in nearly four decades, Iran is on the cusp of a change of leadership—and maybe even of regime. As Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s reign nears its end, a 12-day war in June laid bare the fragility of the system he built. Israel battered Iranian cities …

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• 20 October

  Syria’s captagon empire: A trade too deep to die

  

  The captagon economy in Syria was never the creation of a single political authority. New data suggests it is part of a deeply rooted regional network that transcends borders, governments, and even regime change. When former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government fell on 8 December 2024, the world’s attention turned …

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• 12 October

  Future Scenarios for the Two Libyas

  

  Cultural facts and latest developments If we study the culture of individual peoples and set out to see how they differ from each other, even ethnically and within the same country, we can easily understand what centrifugal forces are at work and, if necessary, prepare remedies to prevent the collapse …

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• 12 October

  Trump’s Sham Peace Plan

  

  There is no shortage of failed peace plans in occupied Palestine, all of them incorporating detailed phases and timelines, going back to the presidency of Jimmy Carter. They end the same way. Israel gets what it wants initially — in the latest case the release of the remaining Israeli hostages …

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• 12 October

  Beyond the Drones: Confronting Russia’s Expanding Hybrid War on Europe

  

  Bottom Line Up Front Over the course of the past month, unidentified drones — widely believed to be Russian — have menaced Europe, intruding into foreign airspace and causing major disruptions and having destabilizing effects, including temporary airport shutdowns. The Kremlin has consistently denied that Russian drones have entered European …

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