The fourth Israeli hostage/Palestinian prisoner exchange since November 2023 took place in the Gaza Strip yesterday as Yarden Bibas, 35, Ofer Calderon, 54, and Keith Siegel, 65, were freed after 484 days in captivity. Before they were released into the custody of the Red Cross, they were forced to stand on a stage under a […]
As widely expected, Israel did not withdraw from southern Lebanon on January 26. Under the 60-day ceasefire agreement, Israel was supposed to cede its positions to the Lebanese army before pulling out. But as the deadline for its withdrawal approached, Israel notified representatives of the oversight committee that monitors the ceasefire — the United States, France, […]
The sudden, unexpected downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last month was a searingly stunning blow to Russia’s status in Syria, its ambition to be a key player in the Middle East, and its international prestige. Syria was not only Russia’s chief client state in the region, but the locale of its only military bases […]
A wave of elation and relief swept across Israel as a long-awaited ceasefire pausing Israel’s protracted war with Hamas took hold on January 19 and three Hamas hostages, Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher, were released after enduring 471 horrendous days of captivity in the Gaza Strip. The celebratory mood was marred by an […]
As he begins his second four-year term as president of the United States, Donald Trump faces a myriad of challenges in the Middle East, one of the world’s most volatile and unstable regions. When he was inaugurated in Washington, D.C. on January 20, the fate of Israel’s ceasefire/hostage agreement with Hamas still hung in the […]
Fifteen months after the outbreak of the cross-border war in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s longest, Israel and Hamas have finally reached a ceasefire and hostage release agreement. The Israeli cabinet is expected to ratify it in the coming days. The deal, the product of months of on-again, off-again negotiations, will officially take effect on Sunday, […]
The downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last month has clearly benefited Turkey, one of Syria’s neighbors. A key regional state, Turkey will most likely be a major player in Syrian politics from this point forward. For years, however, Turkey and Syria were estranged, greatly diminishing Turkish influence in Syrian affairs. Turkish President Recep Tayyip […]
Syria has been a work in progress, a nation to be rebuilt, since the downfall of its autocratic president, Bashar al-Assad, a month ago. It is far too early to ascertain in what political direction Syria is heading, but if the past is any guide, Syrians should not expect their country to become a Jeffersonian […]
Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, the lone wolf terrorist who rammed a pickup truck into street crowds in New Orleans on January 1, killing 14 pedestrians, was radicalized by Islamic State, the jihadist organization which has left a legacy of death and destruction around the globe. An American-born convert to Islam, he had no police record of […]
As 2025 gets under way, Israel appears better off strategically than in the previous two years. Israel was dealt a stunning blow when Hamas terrorists breached its high-tech fortified border fence along the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023 and proceeded to kill about 1,200 civilians and soldiers, sexually abuse numerous women, and abduct 251 […]