On the eve of U.S. President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on July 16, pressure is building on Iran to withdraw its contingent of advisors and troops from Syria. Israel and the United States have demanded Iran’s pullout, as have Sunni Arab nations ranging from Saudi Arabia to Egypt. Even […]
Syria’s current offensive to recapture Daraa province from anti-regime rebels is giving Israel cause for concern. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began sending reinforcements to southwestern Syria in mid-May in a bid to stamp out the last embers of the rebellion there. On June 19, the Syrian army, assisted by Russian airpower, Iranian advisers, Hezbollah ground troops […]
Conspiracy theories in the Muslim world are as common and as popular as vanilla ice cream and apple pie in the United States. Arabs and Turks, in particular, have an insatiable appetite for this variant of fake news. As Abd al-Hamid al-Majjali wrote in the Jordanian daily Al-Dustour last year, “The Arabs seem to believe […]
Just weeks after ferociously labelling Israel “a malignant cancer” that must “be removed and eradicated,” Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dialed down his rhetoric. In a series of recent tweets from his official website, he wrote that Israel’s protracted struggle with the Palestinians should be resolved peacefully rather than through war. “To define Palestine’s […]
For about the past two months, the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip have turned to a new yet primitive weapon, incendiary kites, to harass and harm neighboring Israel. Comparatively small in size, cobbled together with transparent plastic wrapping and carrying flammable materials, they set fire to nearby agricultural fields, grasslands, and nature reserves. By Israeli Defence Minister […]
Hard on the heels of the United States’ withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Germany, France and Britain this week in an attempt to persuade them to pull out of the landmark accord. Acknowledging that Iran had complied with the agreement, but complaining that Tehran had violated its […]
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres performed a valuable public service recently when he urged Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia and political party, to cease military activities and disarm. As well, he called upon Lebanon and the Lebanese armed forces to prohibit Hezbollah from acquiring weapons and building a military capacity outside the framework of the […]
It appears that Israel’s concerns about an Iranian military presence in Syria are being seriously addressed by Russia, Syria’s longtime ally. The issue, considered of the utmost importance by Israel, has topped Israel’s agenda for months now. In February, in an unprecedented incident that sent shock waves through the Middle East, Israel shot down an […]
On May 28, Syria assumed the presidency of the Conference on Disarmament, a non-governmental organization which, among other achievements, was instrumental in the promulgation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, an arms-control treaty that prohibits the use, production and stockpiling of chemical weapons. The presidency is rotated among its 65 members, and now it is Syria’s turn […]
Is bipartisan support for Israel in the U.S. Congress slipping? This appears to be the case, judging by a series of recent events. A festive ceremony in Jerusalem on May 14 marking Israel’s 70th anniversary of statehood and the opening of the American embassy in Jerusalem attracted a small delegation of Republicans from the Senate […]