Middle East

House Vote Likely Wednesday on Ending US Government Shutdown

This is Beirut 2025-11-12 09:25 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

USA Democrats Donald Trump Republicans New York

The effort to end the longest-ever US government shutdown heads Wednesday toward a final vote, as President Donald Trump declared victory in the political face-off and rival Democrats tore themselves apart over the deal. The House of Representatives appeared likely to vote Wednesday on a spending bill to solve the six-week standoff, after eight ...

Turkey Says Military Plane Crash in Georgia Killed all 20 On Board

This is Beirut 2025-11-12 09:20 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Turkey Military Georgia Azerbaijan Crash

Turkey on Wednesday said all 20 people onboard a military cargo plane that crashed in Georgia on its return from Azerbaijan had died. The plane had taken off from Ganja airport in western Azerbaijan on Tuesday afternoon but crashed shortly after crossing the border into eastern Georgia, the defense ministry said after the incident. It said there ...

Focus'Killed on sight': Sudanese Fleeing El-Fasher Recall Ethnic Attacks

This is Beirut 2025-11-12 09:15 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Sudan Conflict Rights Elfasher

As he fled the Sudanese city of El-Fasher in terror, Hassan Osman said he saw ethnic attacks by paramilitary forces, with civilians targeted for their tribe and skin color. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been at war with the army since April 2023, captured their last stronghold in western Darfur on October 26. Reports of mass ...

Arrival of US Aircraft Carrier Fuels Venezuelan Fears of Attack

This is Beirut 2025-11-12 09:10 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

USA Donald Trump United Kingdom Venezuela

A US aircraft carrier strike group arrived in Latin America Tuesday, escalating a military buildup Venezuela has warned could trigger a full-blown conflict, as it announced its own "massive" deployment. The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, entered an area under control of the US Naval Forces Southern Command, which ...

Syria and Israel in Direct Talks, Sharaa Says Damascus Ready for ‘New Chapter’ With U.S.

This is Beirut 2025-11-12 09:00 - Reading : 8 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Donald Trump Gulf United States US Congress

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa confirmed that Syria and Israel have begun direct negotiations for the first time in half a century, signaling a major diplomatic shift in the Middle East as Damascus also seeks to rebuild relations with the United States after decades of hostility. In an interview with The Washington Post after his meeting with ...

Israeli Police Say Settlers Arrested after West Bank Clashes

This is Beirut 2025-11-11 23:05 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Israeli Settlers West Bank

Israel's police and military said Tuesday that security forces arrested several Israeli settlers after violent clashes near the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem, during which Palestinians were injured and property was destroyed. The military said it dispatched troops after "masked Israeli civilians... attacked Palestinians and set fire to ...

Iraqi Voters Turn Out in Numbers as Region Watches On

This is Beirut 2025-11-11 22:54 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Iraq Elections Iraq Parliament

Iraqis voted for a new parliament Tuesday, with an unexpectedly high turnout of more than 55 percent, at a pivotal time for the country and the wider region. Iraq, which has long been vulnerable to proxy wars and is closely watched by Iran and the United States, has recently regained a sense of stability. But, even as it tries to move past two ...

France and Algeria: Signs of Calm, but No Real Reconciliation

This is Beirut 2025-11-11 22:05 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

France Algeria

In recent weeks, France appears to be cautiously reopening a door long left ajar. In early November, the new Interior Minister, Laurent Nuñez, said he had received an invitation from his Algerian counterpart, a gesture that has yet to be officially confirmed. In Paris, it is regarded as a quiet sign of goodwill. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister ...

Macron Warns Any Planned West Bank Annexation a 'Red Line'

This is Beirut 2025-11-11 21:50 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

France Emmanuel Macron Mahmoud Abbas

French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Tuesday that any Israeli plans for annexation in the West Bank would be a "red line" and would provoke a European reaction. He spoke as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visited Paris one month into a fragile truce between Hamas and Israel, following two years of war triggered by the militant group's ...

Op-edThe Flood that Sunk the Palestinian State

Hussain Abdul-Hussain 2025-11-11 21:10 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam PLO Hamas Palestinian United States

The Palestinian state is now history, owing to Hamas’s 2023 Al-Aqsa Flood attacks on Israel that dealt a fatal blow to Palestinian nationhood, a project that began in 1968 and peaked with the 1993 Oslo Accords. Hamas’s folly has prompted the UN Security Council to consider ending its longtime orthodoxy in support of a Palestinian state and ...

ReportFor Many Syrians, Ahmad al-Sharaa's US Visit Marks New Beginning

This is Beirut 2025-11-11 20:10 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Syria United States Ahmad al-Sharaa

On the streets of Damascus on Tuesday, Syrians viewed their leader's visit to Washington as a shift towards the West that could pave the way to reviving the country's war-battered economy. On Monday, Donald Trump received Ahmad al-Sharaa, a first for a Syrian head of state since independence in 1946 and a crowning achievement for the ...

SpotlightTehran Fights for Its Political Survival in Iraq

Paul Guillot 2025-11-11 19:11 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Tehran Hamas Hezbollah USA Iraq

Officially, the elections are hailed as a step forward for a country still scarred by two decades of war and instability. In reality, the vote unfolds under the persistent shadow of Iran, determined to preserve a political system it has largely shaped since Saddam Hussein’s fall in 2003. Outgoing Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani owes his ...