Will This War End Hezbollah?

After Israel’s war against Hezbollah ended in November 2024, many expected the group’s losses—including the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah—to weaken its influence in Lebanon. Hopes rose that the Lebanese state could reclaim sovereignty and extend its control across the country. Yet subsequent developments revealed that these ...

Trump Says Iran Wants to Talk: The Atlantic

One day after U.S.-Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and escalated tensions across the Middle East, former President Donald Trump said Sunday that Iran’s new leadership wants to negotiate and that he plans to engage with them. “They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to ...

Son of Iran's Late Shah Says 'Final Victory' Near

The son of Iran's last shah voiced confidence Saturday in victory against the Islamic republic after the United States and Israel launched an attack. Reza Pahlavi released a video message online shortly after the strikes, suggesting coordination after he repeatedly urged President Donald Trump to intervene. "We are very close to final victory. I ...

Iraq PM Candidate Maliki Meets Senior U.S. Diplomat

The leading candidate to become Iraq's next prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, met with US diplomat Tom Barrack on Friday after refusing to withdraw his nomination despite the US threatening to stop supporting the country if he returns to the post. Barrack, the US envoy to Syria and ambassador to Turkey, has recently visited Iraq ...

Pentagon’s Kamikaze Drone Unit Ready Amid U.S.–Iran Talks

The United States has a new one-way attack drone unit, built by reverse-engineering Iran’s Shahed-136 drones, ready to strike Iran if President Donald Trump orders military action, Bloomberg reports. According to the report, the unit, named Task Force Scorpion, emerged from an experimental U.S. military program and is now fully integrated ...

Iran's Khamenei Warns U.S. Warship in Gulf Can Be Sunk

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Tuesday that a U.S. warship deployed to the Gulf could be sunk, as renewed nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington got underway in Geneva. “We constantly hear that they have sent a warship toward Iran. A warship is certainly a dangerous weapon, but even more dangerous is ...

The Council of the South: Hezbollah and Amal’s Tool for Clientelism

The Council of the South was intended to be one of the Lebanese state’s key mechanisms for addressing the damage from wars with Israel, but it effectively became a partisan tool serving the Amal Movement and Hezbollah. It was established in 1970 primarily to help residents of southern Lebanon repair their homes and rebuild what had been ...

Iraq PM Candidate Maliki Says Majority Bloc Has Final Say on Nomination

Iraq's main candidate for the premiership, Nouri al-Maliki, said Tuesday that withdrawing his candidacy would jeopardise Iraqi sovereignty after US threats and he would only step aside if his electoral bloc asks him to. Last week, US President Donald Trump, in his latest intervention in another country's politics, issued an ultimatum, ...

World Food Program Terminates All Staff Contracts in Rebel-Held Yemen: UN Official

The World Food Programme is ending the contracts of all 365 staff in Houthi-controlled Yemen, a UN official told AFP on Thursday, effectively ending operations in a zone gravely afflicted by hunger. The United Nations agency suspended work in rebel-held areas in late August after the Iran-backed Houthis detained 38 employees in a series of raids, ...