Middle East

( RFE/ RL ) – Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in his first public comments since Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was ousted, accused the United States and Israel of orchestrating the rebel uprising that toppled the regime over the weekend. Khamenei on December 11 also implicitly blamed Turkey for the lightning push of Syrian rebels […]

Israel/ Palestine

Hamas – Hemmed in and Isolated – finds itself with few Options for the Day after the Gaza War

The Conversation

By Mkhaimar Abusada, Northwestern University (The Conversation) – In early December 2024, Hamas announced a major concession: It was prepared to cede future governance of Gaza to a unity Palestinian committee, working alongside its chief political rival, Fatah, to create the body. Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, has since expressed hesitancy […]

Donald Trump

Trump’s Nominee for Ambassador to Israel is an End Times Fanatic and Palestine Denialist; What could Go Wrong?

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Trump’s second-term nominee for U.S. ambassador to Israel is former Arkansas Governor, Rev. Mike Huckabee. He is an Evangelical Zionist, who has repeatedly claimed that there are no Palestinians, and brutally dismissed the right of the Palestinian people to their own land. A former US ambassador, Luis […]

Syria

Syrians, in a Triumph of Hope, turn the Page on the Horrors of Assad

The Conversation

By Wendy Pearlman, Northwestern University Millions of Syrians are feeling hope for the first time in years. The authoritarian regime of Bashar al-Assad fell on Dec. 8, 2024, after a 12-day rebel offensive. Most commentaries on this stunning reversal of a conflict seemingly frozen since 2020 emphasize shifts in geopolitics and balance of power. Some […]

Alawites

Shiite Latakia Falls to new Syrian Government, as Sheikhs call for Reconciliation and Recruits are Pardoned

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Monday, the Levant Liberation Council (Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham/ HTS) guerrilla forces extended their rule to Latakia, Syria’s major port, in the northwest of the country. One Syrian source maintained that there was an uprising of anti-Assad Alawites in Latakia, and that HTS rebels had not entered the city. Other […]

Israel/ Palestine

The world owes Palestine this much – please stop censoring Palestinian Voices

Ramzy Baroud

( Middle East Monitor ) – Social media censorship is a global phenomenon, but the war on pro-Palestinian views on social media represents a different kind of censorship, with consequences that can only be described as dire. Long before the current devastating war on Gaza and the escalation of Israeli violence and repression in the […]

Hayat Tahrir

Abu Mohammed al-Golani may become the face of post-Assad Syria – but who is he and why does he have $10M US bounty on his head?

The Conversation

By Sara Harmouch, American University (The Conversation) – The fall of President Bashar al-Assad has left a critical question: After a half-century of brutal dynastic rule has come to an end, who speaks for Syrians now? One group staking a major claim for that role is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which, under the leadership of Abu […]

Syria

The sectarian Risk: Turkiye’s Syrian Mission

Middle East Monitor

by Dr Binoy Kampmark ( Middle East Monitor ) – Turkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan must be delighted about what is unfolding in Syria, though it is a feeling bound to be tempered by swiftly changing circumstances. Iran’s Shia proxies have been weakened by relentless Israeli targeting and bombing. Russia’s eyes and resources are turned towards […]

Israel/ Palestine

Is Piers Morgan normalizing Israel’s Genocide?

Yoav Litvin

( Counterpunch ) – Since October 7, 2023, white settler propaganda has ramped up through two insidious tactics targeting western audiences. The first rationalizes Israel’s brutality under the pretext of “self-defense” of a supposed “civilized” western democracy in a barbaric region, exploiting the conflation of Zionism with Judaism and dehumanizing all Palestinian people as “terrorists” […]