Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strike Kills Three Journalists

This is Beirut 21/01 16:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

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Gaza's civil defense agency said an Israeli strike in the center of the territory on Wednesday killed three journalists, including a freelancer who regularly contributed for AFP, despite the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Since October 10, a fragile US-sponsored truce in Gaza has largely halted the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, ...

AnalysisAmid U.S. Military Build-Up, What Comes Next for Iran and the Region?

Shelby Weiss 21/01 15:50 - Reading : 8 minute(s)

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Washington is signaling it may take action against Iran amid its increasingly deadly crackdown on nationwide protests that began on December 28. This is Beirut spoke with analysts about the dramatic events unfolding in Iran and their ripple effects on the region, after reports show a significant U.S. military buildup is underway in the Middle ...

AnalysisAs Border Threats Evolve, Israel Turns to New Technologies

Seth J. Frantzman 21/01 15:15 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Israel Hezbollah Hamas AI Technology

Even though Israel may have militarily weakened Hamas and Hezbollah, it must still contend with increasingly complex and non-traditional security threats along every front, underscoring that today’s borders and battlefields are interconnected in ways that were once unimaginable. On January 7, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) announced that it ...

Syrian Government, SDF Announce Four-Day Truce as SDF Pulls Guards from Al-Hol

This is Beirut 20/01 16:40 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Syria SDF Kurds Al-Hol

The Syrian government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces announced a four-day truce on Tuesday while SDF guards monitoring the Al-Hol camp retreated from their posts.  Just before the truce, SDF personnel guarding the Al-Hol camp in northeast Syria withdrew from their posts to be redeployed to other cities in the ...

Iran FM Says Davos Appearance Cancellation Based On 'Lies'

This is Beirut 20/01 13:05 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

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Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi hit out at the World Economic Forum in Davos for cancelling his appearance over a crackdown on recent protests, saying the decision was based on "lies and political pressure". Protests in Iran sparked by economic strain in late December exploded into the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in years, ...

Op-edIsrael Won the War, So Why Is the Muslim Brotherhood Winning the Peace?

Hussain Abdul-Hussain 20/01 13:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

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The new regional order taking shape appears to be a haunting inversion of the post-9/11 era. At the time, the U.S. smashed Sunni powers, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, incidentally empowering Iran and its sprawling proxy network. Washington even called Shia Islamism the more “reasonable” alternative and partnered with Tehran against ...

Talks Between Damascus And Kurdish-led Forces "Collapse"

This is Beirut 20/01 12:45 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

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Negotiations have collapsed between the Syrian president and the chief of the country's Kurdish-led forces, a Kurdish official told AFP, as the army deployed reinforcements to flashpoint areas in the north. President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi, who heads the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), were meeting to discuss a ceasefire ...

Israel Begins Demolitions at UNRWA Headquarters

This is Beirut 20/01 11:55 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

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Israeli bulldozers began demolitions at the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in East Jerusalem on Tuesday, in what the organization called an "unprecedented attack". UNRWA spokesman Jonathan Fowler said in a statement to AFP that Israeli forces "stormed into" the compound shortly after 7am (0500 GMT) and ousted security ...

Netanyahu Draws Red Line on Gaza Postwar Plan

This is Beirut 20/01 11:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Monday that Turkish and Qatari forces would not set foot in Gaza, days after the White House announced that officials from the countries would sit on a key committee set to oversee the Strip’s postwar management. Speaking during a parliamentary session in Jerusalem, Netanyahu acknowledged a ...

Iran Orders Protesters in ‘Riots’ to Surrender Within 72 Hours

This is Beirut 20/01 10:05 - Reading : less than a minute

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Turkey Warns "Won't Tolerate Provocations" Over Syria Unrest

This is Beirut 20/01 09:45 - Reading : less than a minute

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Turkey warned Tuesday it would not tolerate any "provocations" over the events in Syria as its Kurdish community called for protests over a government offensive targeting Kurdish fighters. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X that Turkey was "meticulously monitoring the developments in Syria and all movements along our ...

Op-edThe Middle East Will Not Heal Until Iran Is Free

Rawan Osman 20/01 09:05 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

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As Iranians flood the streets in mass demonstrations, demanding freedom at extraordinary personal risk, a fundamental truth has become impossible to ignore. The Middle East cannot heal until Iran is free from the Islamist regime that has poisoned the region for nearly half a century. I came to this conclusion from lived experience, not ideology ...