Fragile diplomacy forged in Islamabad has unraveled. The crisis in the Strait of Hormuz is deepening, NATO is fraying, and…
Browsing: Headlines
The military and diplomatic risks of reentering south Lebanon are weighty, but Israel can mitigate them by publicly clarifying its…
(Smoke rises from explosions induced by Israeli military activities on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of Al Taybeh.)…
(Shaffaf Exclusive) I went to Beirut for a week and found two cities living on top of each other, like…
The aftermath of Israeli strikes in Tyre, Lebanon. Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty Images by Barak Ravid The Lebanese government and the…
Six weeks after the United States under Donald Trump and Israel led by Benjamin Netanyahu launched coordinated strikes on Iran,…
The war in Iran is having unexpected consequences, such as renewed interest in Switzerland as a financial centre. Some clients…
As Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot leaders meet again with no breakthrough in sight, Cyprus remains trapped between dialogue and…
A placard reading “Death to the American Zarif” is seen at a rally of Islamic Republic supporters in Tehran on…
Lebanon’s financial crisis has not been resolved. It has merely been deferred. After one of the most severe…
When Pope Leo XIV landed in Lebanon he echoed the words of Pope John Paul II, “Lebanon is a Message”.…
This is the moment to break Iran’s resistance, force an agreement on American and Israeli terms, and finish the war…
Prince Mohammed bin Salman sees a “historic opportunity” to remake the region, according to people briefed by U.S. officials on…
The U.S. Must Judge Terrorists by Their Actions and Ideology, Not the Veneer of Respectability with Which They Paint Themselves…
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has floated the idea of adapting the Black Sea Grain Initiative model to…
The French government has drafted a proposal to end the war in Lebanon that would require the Lebanese government to…
Following the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the February 28 Israeli and United States strike, Iran has entered a…
In 2006 information was leaked about a secret Iranian plan called Qiyamah, translated as Judgement Day. It was a plan…
The renewed conflict offers an opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah’s capabilities, potentially clearing the way for breakthrough diplomacy with Israel. …
The Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MeK) tried to attack the Headquarters of the Iranian Supreme Leader (Beit-e Rahbari) located in the Motahari…
The Question No One Dares Ask Walking through the streets of Dahieh, Beirut’s southern suburb, you see them everywhere:…
A request made to President Trump about the war in Sudan is at the heart of a diplomatic dispute between…
(Satellite image showing damage to the compound of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran) As Israeli-American strikes…
Erhürman’s structured settlement methodology and renewed high-level diplomacy open space for cautious optimism, yet meaningful progress depends on a substantive…
The next northern-front threat isn’t a ‘Hezbollah alternative’ – it’s an Islamist partner hiding in plain sight, built for legitimacy…
Excerpt: “Only the Central Bank governor has been targeting the cash economy via circulars attempting to regulate the sector; however,…
Testimony submitted to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa. February 3, 2026
Lebanon’s political theatre has reached a new low with parliamentarians opposing any sale of the country’s gold reserves at the Banque…
Lebanon’s 2026 state budget was approved in parliament with a razor-thin majority that failed to reach even half of the…
Barak Ravid, Zachary Basu Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman (KBS) said in a private briefing on Friday in Washington that…
The panic did not announce itself with sirens. It crept in quietly, through WhatsApp messages, television panels, and hastily arranged…
For years, Lebanon’s banking sector appeared to function not as an arm of public policy, but as the financial playground…
Taking military action is risky. Falsely encouraging freedom fighters would be shameful. The fate of a 2,500-year-old nation and its…
Western realism masks a deeper cynicism: deference to gas flows has prolonged Iran’s illegitimate theocracy. When…
The most destabilizing threats to security alliances rarely come from outside assault alone. More often, they emerge from internal contradictions,…
Lebanon is witnessing something unprecedented: a senior official at the central bank launching a two-front war of accountability.…
By The Editorial Board The Iranians demonstrating against their government are displaying awe-inspiring bravery. In the past quarter-century, protest movements…
New information indicates that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), as shareholders…
I, recently, returned to Saida, that predominantly sunni city south of Beirut — sentimental to me and politically charged for Lebanon. My…
Shaffaf had published the Arabic version of this article, by Yemeni writer Hussein Al-Wadi‘i, on November 22, 2025.…
As Arctic ice retreats and new maritime routes open, Europe risks repeating one of its most damaging strategic errors: confusing…
Recent leaks made public by Al-Jazeera suggest that this is the case, but the story may be more complicated. The…
METRANSPARENT EXCLUSIVE The demonstrations that started late December 2025 in the Bazaar in Tehran have grown to a full blown…
The forcible seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by the United States did not merely shock Latin America. It exposed,…
Lebanon’s Stabilisation and Deposit Repayment Act (FSDR) aims to resolve one of the most consequential financial collapses of modern times:…
During the Israeli preparations for the renewed round of talks with the new Syrian regime of AlSharaa, Israeli intelligence has…
The U.S. operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and flew him to New York did more than topple a…
On December 26, 2025, the Lebanese government passed the Financial Stabilization and Deposits Repayment Act (FSDR), a law that aims…
From Somaliland to the Eastern Mediterranean: Israel’s new diplomatic assertiveness and Türkiye’s deepening concerns Israel’s decision on 26…
Lebanon has always suffered from corruption, but what is being attempted today risks something even more dangerous: the institutionalisation…