Over the past year, the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad has been at pains to avoid direct involvement in Gaza and Lebanon, despite its informal alliance with Hamas and Hezbollah and professed support for their cause against Israel, not to mention the deadly Israeli strikes on Iranian military assets on Syrian territory. Crippled by 13 […]
Read moreWhat Israel’s purported invasion of Lebanon means for Hezbollah and its Iranian backers
Following the killing of Hezbollah’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in a targeted airstrike on Sept. 27, Israel is reported to have launched what it calls a “limited” ground incursion into Lebanon. On Tuesday night, Iran fired a wave of ballistic missiles at Israel in a long-expected retaliation for the killing of Nasrallah and the suspected […]
Read moreWhat will become of the Lebanese displaced by intensifying Israel-Hezbollah conflict?
Nearly half a million Lebanese civilians have been displaced from their homes in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley since Israel intensified its air campaign against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia this week, raising the prospect of a major humanitarian emergency. In a country already grappling with a profound economic crisis, the exodus of thousands of […]
Read moreWhy Israel’s assault on Lebanon’s Hezbollah puts Iran’s IRGC in an unprecedented dilemma
As world leaders gather in New York for the UN General Assembly, global attention is glued to the latest escalation taking place in the Middle East between Israel and Hezbollah, which has brought the region yet another step closer to all-out war. On Monday, nearly 500 people, including 35 children, were killed in Israeli strikes […]
Read moreWhy a probe into the killing of notorious human trafficker ‘Bija’ is a test of Libya’s rule of law
Abdel-Rahman Milad, known as “Bija,” a former coast guard commander notorious for human trafficking, was killed in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, on Sept. 1, shining a harsh light on the North African country’s chaotic political landscape. Milad’s death has drawn renewed attention to the intersections between the country’s rival militias, organized crime networks, and weak […]
Read moreMiddle East terrorist groups like ISIS look to exploit US withdrawal from region
Almost 10 years have passed since US forces were deployed to Iraq and Syria as part of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. Three administrations later, with new strategic challenges vying for attention and both public opinion and policy veering toward 1930s-style isolationism, an American exit from the region is not being ruled out. First published by […]
Read moreHow suffering and destruction caused by Israel’s Gaza assault serve the ideologies and goals of extremists
Violent extremist groups are exploiting public outcry surrounding the war in Gaza to fan the flames of radicalization, recruit followers, and encourage lone-wolf attacks in the West, counterterrorism officials have warned. Since the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, which sparked Israel’s retaliation in Gaza, security chiefs have warned of a dramatic rise in violent Islamist […]
Read moreWhy Lebanon seems destined to be the Middle East’s perennial theater of war
Israel’s suspected killing of senior Hamas figure Saleh Al-Arouri in Beirut on Jan. 2, followed by the death of Hezbollah commander Wissam Al-Tawil in a similar strike in southern Lebanon on Jan. 8, has once again thrust the country into the midst of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Although Israeli forces and members of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah […]
Read moreWhy is the latest Israel-Hamas war in the long-running Middle East conflict proving to be so polarizing?
Few issues in the world stir emotions of such intensity, global manifestations of outrage, or incomprehension of rival views as the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians does, even among those with no personal stake in the region. The current conflict in Gaza has brought these public tensions over the issue to the fore with a ferocity […]
Read moreUS, UK sanctions highlight role of Syrian, Lebanese figures in fueling Captagon addiction crisis
Sanctions recently imposed by US and UK authorities on two cousins of President Bashar Assad and several Syrian and Lebanese figures reflect growing international alarm over their role in manufacturing and trafficking Captagon, estimated to be worth up to $57 billion to the Syrian regime. Captagon is a highly addictive amphetamine used throughout the Middle […]
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