A year ago, on December 8, President Bashar al-Assad’s Baathist regime in Syria fell like a house of cards and was immediately replaced by an Islamist government led by Ahmed al-Shara, a former jihadist affiliated with Al Qaeda. It was a defining moment in Syria, an Arab state misruled by the Assad family for more […]
The ceasefire that was supposed to end the war in Lebanon has effectively broken down as Israel continues to attack Hezbollah operatives and military infrastructure on almost a daily basis. In its latest operation, on November 23, Israel killed Hezbollah’s chief of staff, Haytham Ali Tabatabai, the former commander of the Radwan Force, a special […]
When he resumed office as Israeli prime minister in December 2022 after an interlude of about a year in the opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu said that one of his main foreign policy goals was to reach a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia within the framework of the 2020 Abraham Accords. In an interview with the Saudi […]
Nearly six months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire ended Israel’s 12-day war with Iran, both sides are on the cusp of renewing the fighting. Judging by the bellicose statements emanating from Jerusalem and Tehran since June, a second Israel-Iran war could well break out. Shortly after declaring victory in Operation Rising Lion, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin […]
The United States is normalizing its frayed relationship with Syria, a key Arab state struggling to rebuild itself after a ruinous 12-year civil war. It is bound to be an incremental process, judging by Syrian President Ahmed al-Shara’s visit to Washington on November 10. A former jihadist who seized power after overthrowing President Bashar al-Assad […]
Donald Trump has been cracking down on Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu of late, triggering sarcastic jokes in Israel that he is “Bibi-sitting” him. What this means, in practice, is that the United States, Israel’s chief ally and benefactor, has been exerting pressure on Israel to do its bidding on a wide range of issues ranging from […]
The United States has pulled out all the stops in a concerted effort to preserve the shaky ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Brokered earlier this month by President Donald Trump in coordination with Israel, Arab states and Turkey, it kicked off the first phase of Trump’s 20-point peace plan to end the two-year war between […]
Late last month, on the eve of his latest meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump issued a bombshell statement. “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank,” said Trump, whom Netanyahu has often hailed as the most pro-Israel president in American history. “It’s not […]
Two dates in October are seared into the consciousness of Israelis — October 7 and October 13 — in split-screen moments. On October 7, 2023, Israel was suddenly thrown into shock, grief and trauma as thousands of Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip broke through the fortified border fence and proceeded to kill about 1,200 […]
There is finally light at the end of the tunnel. Israel’s two-year war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, sparked by Hamas’ invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023, appears to have belatedly drawn to a close thanks to a 20-point peace plan devised by U.S. President Donald Trump and his aides. Trump and […]