While agreeing with many U.S. analysts’ critique of president Obama’s Middle East policy, it is important to take exception to…
Year: 2014
So great are the worries that Sunni-Shiite relations may deteriorate in Lebanon, that everyone embraces the impending dialogue between the…
BY KATIE SIMMONS The pervasive conflicts that have gripped the Middle East over recent years — from political turmoil in…
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report Hamas’ political leader Khaled Meshaak, forced to quit his old headquarters in Damascus after abandoning his longtime…
Shaffaf Exclusive: How does the Islamic State turmoil and the dislocation of Syria and Iraq look from a Turkish perspetive.…
“We had a language which was very suitable for science; yet we slept over it one night and the next…
Arwa Othman has been a regular Middle East Transparent. Her articles, in arabic, are available here. * Arwa Othman, awarded…
More than three months after the guns fell silent in and around the Gaza Strip, the postwar reconstruction of Gaza…
By SAM DAGHER AL-QARDAHA, Syria—On the fourth day of a rebel assault on President Bashar al-Assad ’s seat of power…
On Dec. 7, the Israeli air force carried out a series of surgical air strikes inside Syria. Such strikes are…
Once again, we find ourselves at the height of election fever in the Jewish “nation-state” — in other words, in…
The Mevlevı ‘sema,’ or whirling ceremony. PHOTO: Fatma Demir. * During the first half of the 13th century in Konya,…
Prior to the ongoing civil war, the Syrian Arab Air Force (SAAF) was never considered a key component of the…
The killing of six soldiers near Ras Baalbek Tuesday concealed a broader political message, one with significant implications for Hezbollah:…
دخول “هيئة العلماء المسلمين” على خط الوساطة مع خاطفي عسكريي الجيش اللبناني ليس مستساغاً من قبل فريق 8 آذار، الذي…
Earlier today, a series of royal orders in the name of King Abdullah announced that eight new members had been…
Eric Edelman is a distinguished fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and served as undersecretary of defense…
The Catholic Church of St. Anthony of Padua in Istanbul. The break between the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Roman…
As a diplomat and Israel’s ambassador to the Dominican Republic and as a reserve officer in the Israel Defense Forces…
She made a joke about a beard and the medieval clergy went berserk; apparently they do not have a sense…
Within Washington policy circles, many officials regard Syria’s minority Alawite sect as a homogenous bubble within Syria. However, in recent…
Over the last few days, as the United States has stepped up its bombing campaign against ISIS in Syria, it…
Hezbollah wants the world to know it still wants death to Israel, it’s just really busy right now. As Iranian…
By Karen DeYoung The Obama administration is weighing the opening of a new front in the air war against the…
Tango 10 protects the pass leading to the Christian village of Ras Baalbek near the Lebanese-Syrian border * By Holly…
No one doubts that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a Jewish patriot with every fiber of his body. Jewish patriotism…
Last week, fifteen Majlis representatives summoned the minister of intelligence over a report that had been prepared and submitted to…
The next time a presidential campaign tries to convince you that its candidate has foreign policy experience by virtue of…
On Friday, while Americans are recovering from Thanksgiving food comas, Egypt might experience its most violent day in over a…
Reaching a nuclear deal with Iran is proving to be tough, as evidenced by the seven-month extension of talks agreed…
When US defence officials want to give a compliment to a junior military partner they will often use the phrase…
Dennis Ross, a counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, was a special assistant to President Obama from…
The “Vladivostok” Mistral-class helicopter carrier in Saint-Nazaire. Last Thursday, “Vladivostok”, the first of two Mistral-class ships sold to Russia,…
Several Islamic figures who lived long before Columbus have suggested that some Muslim sailors sailed across the Atlantic. According to…
By Editorial Board THE BEHEADING of another American by the Islamic State brought an appropriately harsh condemnation from President Obama,…
Police clash with protesters in the Arab town of Kafr Kana, November 11, 2014. (Photo by Gil Eliyahu) * The…
Yesterday, Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani of Qatar was shown kissing the cheek of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia during…
President Barack Obama, with Secretary of State John Kerry, participates in a secure video teleconference with Embassy Baghdad and Consulates…
A mosaic depicting Fatih Sultan Mehmed handing over a firman (imperial edict) and a staff to Gennadios Scholarios. * “The…
A consequence of the Ukrainian crisis, the Elysee had initially threatened to cancel the contract. According to military sources,…
Look, Fury is great. But it lacks something—the claustrophobia of combat in an armored vehicle. What Fury was trying to…
Last week, Morocco announced that it would increase intelligence and military support to the United Arab Emirates, ramping up its…
Press release Sepah Pasdaran, Hezbollah implicated in war crimes – Iran an ‘occupying force’ in regime-held areas of Syria Beirut/Damascus/Tehran,…
The beginning of November saw Sana’s airport, government buildings, universities, and even major city intersections firmly under the control of…
An F-15E Strike Eagle taxis to a parking spot at Al-Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates in May…
Maghen Abraham, Beirut’s oldest synagogue, undergoes renovation in Wadi Abu-Jamil district in downtown Beirut (Courtesy Reuters) * Miriam Mizrahi Guindi,…
On November 5, the Omani state television channel broadcast a video of seventy-three-year-old Sultan Qaboos bin Said, currently undergoing medical…
Salman Masalha New Arab city will perpetuate inequality We should oppose the construction of a new Arab city on principle.…
The President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue speaks to Vatican Radio about the barbaric killing in Pakistan: “How…
ANDREA TORNIELLI VATICAN CITY “I am shocked by the immense barbarity of this act…” This was how Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran,…