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From Strategy to Reality: What Will It Take to Disarm Hezbollah?

The question of disarming Hezbollah in Lebanon, long a political taboo, is now back at the heart of both political and diplomatic discussions. This shift comes amid mounting international pressure and a changing balance of power in the region. Although the topic remains deeply divisive within Lebanon’s political class, experts believe there are ...

Rebuilding in Devastated Mariupol Under Russia's Thumb

Sun-seekers crowded onto the beach in Mariupol in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine -- a devastated city which Moscow wants to turn into an improbable seaside resort. "Take a dip in the Sea of Azov!" said 52-year-old local Ivan, who like other beach goers lapped up the good weather and mild waters of a coastline that is now entirely ...

Beirut Port, Five Years On: Has the Investigation Stalled or Is Justice Moving Forward?

Five long years. Five years since the explosion on August 4, 2020, that mushroom-shaped cloud that swallowed the capital, crushed hundreds of lives, and left a nation in shock. Yet in Beirut, life has gone on as if nothing happened. As if more than 240 people had not died, as if over 7,000 had not been wounded, and as if the country were not ...

UN, Media Groups Condemn Israel’s Deadly Strike on Al Jazeera Team in Gaza

Condemnations poured in from the United Nations, the EU and media rights groups Monday after an Israeli strike killed an Al Jazeera news team in Gaza, as Palestinians mourned the journalists and Israel accused one of them of being a Hamas militant. Dozens of Gazans stood amid bombed-out buildings in the courtyard of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City ...

First Post-Assad Parliament and the Challenge of Transition

Syria’s first legislative elections since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime are scheduled for September 2025. Conducted through an unprecedented indirect voting system, these elections aim to lay the groundwork for political renewal. Yet, amid promises of representation, significant uncertainties leave the outcome fragile. According to the ...

From Sweida to Hasbaya: The Druze Soul Under Strain

While Syria’s Sweida province remains on edge following July’s deadly clashes, the reverberations are deeply felt across the border in Hasbaya. In this part of southern Lebanon—as elsewhere in the Druze world—identity transcends borders. The people of Hasbaya have lived this tragedy as their own, with Druze Sheikh al-Aql, Sami Abi ...

The Fantasized Body: When the Image Erases the Woman (2/2)

In today’s world, the female body is under constant pressure. It must be smooth, toned, youthful, desirable but not vulgar, slim but not unhealthy, maternal yet flawless. On social media, in advertising and in television shows, a single ideal takes hold: a body that is controlled, edited and put on display. The ideal is now algorithmic. It is ...

Mossad’s Reach: How Israel Penetrated Iran’s Inner Sanctum

In June 2025, Iran was struck by a wave of operations of an unusual kind: targeted sabotage, “accidental” explosions, digital disruption, targeted assassinations… The whole affair bears the hallmarks of a hybrid offensive, silent yet devastatingly effective. But beyond technological prowess, the structural collapse of a paranoid regime ...

Israel PM Says New Plan for Gaza 'Best Way to End The War'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his plan to take control of Gaza City and target the remaining Hamas strongholds, saying Sunday it was "the best way to end the war", despite growing calls to stop the fighting. More than 22 months into the war, sparked by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel, the country is ...

US Summit in Alaska a 'Personal Victory' for Putin and Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, had scored a "personal victory" by getting invited to talks with Donald Trump on US soil and that the meeting further delayed sanctions on Moscow. Zelensky also ruled out withdrawing troops from Ukraine's eastern Donbas region as part ...

And Just Like That… Fades Away: When Nostalgia Alone Isn’t Enough

And Just Like That… The story ends here. On August 14, 2025, HBO will air the final episode of a show that always walked a fine line, the line of memory. The memory of a cult quartet from the late 1990s. The memory of a fantasized New York, filled with cosmos, heels, and raw confessions. But above all, the memory of a series that gave voice and ...

Hezbollah: A Legacy of Lies, Manipulation and Deception

For many years, Hezbollah has faced a cascade of criticism and direct attacks. However, one must acknowledge the party’s remarkable feat—an important factor that could be listed among its “assets” (forgive the figure of speech…). The pro-Iranian group has indeed mastered the art of deception and the manipulation of well-established ...

The Shebaa Question: Sovereignty, Strategy, and the Price of Peace

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad and the rise of Ahmad al-Sharaa as Syria’s president, the political landscape has dramatically shifted. Long-held narratives have unraveled, and entrenched positions reversed, including those concerning territory, borders, and the disputed Shebaa Farms. No longer using Shebaa as a pretext for resistance under ...

Sudan Refugees Face Cholera Outbreak with Nothing But Lemons for Medicine

In the cholera-stricken refugee camps of western Sudan, every second is infected by fear. Faster than a person can boil water over an open flame, the flies descend and everything is contaminated once more. Cholera is ripping through the camps of Tawila in Darfur, where hundreds of thousands of people have been left with nothing but the water they ...

Liverpool Spend Big To Hold Off Arsenal, City In Premier League Title Fight

Liverpool have splashed out to defend their Premier League title as champions but face stiff competition from an Arsenal side desperate to shake off their tag as nearly men and a rejuvenated Manchester City. After storming to a record-equalling 20th English top-flight title in Arne Slot's first season in charge, Liverpool have looked to build ...

Italy’s Fast Fashion Hub Turns Into Chinese Mafia Crime Battleground

When Zhang Dayong lay in a pool of blood on a sidewalk in Rome after being shot six times, few suspected a link to Italy's storied textile hub of Prato. But a "hanger war" is raging in the city near Florence — turning Europe's largest apparel manufacturing center and a pillar of Made in Italy production into a battleground for warring Chinese ...

Five Years On: Lebanon Marks Beirut Port Blast Anniversary with Calls for Justice and Remembrance

On the fifth anniversary of the devastating Beirut Port explosion, which killed over 200 people and injured thousands, officials and institutions have renewed their calls for justice and remembrance, while tributes were held across the country. Interior Minister Ahmad Hajjar visited the Beirut Fire Brigade headquarters, where he laid a wreath at ...

The Body as Legacy: Building Sexual Identity

Human sexuality is a journey. It doesn’t suddenly surface at adolescence or with a first sexual experience. It develops from birth, woven over time through sensations, taboos, fantasies, emotional attachments and inner conflicts. The libido, understood as the energy of desire, begins to form in early childhood, gradually finding shape, ...

Child Dies in Italy as European Heatwave Sets Records and Sparks Wildfires

A young boy died of heatstroke in Italy while wildfires threatened a UNESCO site in Spain and French cities saw record temperatures, as a heatwave baked Europe on Monday. The four-year-old Romanian boy died days after being found unconscious in the family's car in Sardinia. The boy was airlifted to a Rome hospital but died of irreversible brain ...

Al Jazeera Says 5 Journalists Killed in Israeli Strike in Gaza

Al Jazeera said two of its correspondents, including a prominent reporter, and three cameramen were killed in an Israeli strike on their tent in Gaza City on Sunday. The Israeli military admitted in a statement to targeting Anas al-Sharif, the reporter it labelled as a "terrorist" affiliated with Hamas. The attack was the latest to see ...

Southern Lebanon Defies the Odds as Summer Comes Alive Again

In the villages of Marjayoun and Hasbaya, summer has quietly reclaimed its place, defying fear and hardship. Restaurants, swimming pools, vineyards, festivals, and village fairs have all come back to life, offering a tender yet powerful reminder that, even under the watchful presence of Israeli drones, the spirit of the South continues to beat ...

Azerbaijan: The Triumph of Pragmatism over Religious Identity

In the heart of the Caucasus, Azerbaijan stands out for its unconventional geopolitical alignments. Though predominantly Shia in religious composition, this secular post-Soviet republic has positioned itself as one of Israel’s closest allies and a strategic partner to the West, all while maintaining a strained relationship with neighboring ...

Trump Says Plans to Test Out Putin as Europe Engages Ukraine

US President Donald Trump on Monday described his upcoming summit with Vladimir Putin as a "feel-out meeting" to gauge his ideas for ending the war in Ukraine, as European leaders rushed to ensure respect for Kyiv's interests. Trump has invited his Russian counterpart to Alaska on Friday -- the first face-to-face meeting between the two ...

Trump Envoy to Inspect Gaza Aid as Pressure Mounts on Israel

President Donald Trump's envoy met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday ahead of a visit to inspect aid distribution in Gaza, as a deadly food crisis drove mounting international pressure for a ceasefire. Steve Witkoff, who has been involved in months of stalled negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, met ...

Kyiv Won't Give Up Land, Says Zelensky as US-Russia Summit Confirmed

Ukraine won't surrender land to Russia to buy peace, President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Saturday, after Washington and Moscow agreed to hold a summit in a bid to end the war. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet in the US state of Alaska on August 15, to try to resolve the three-year conflict, despite warnings from Ukraine and ...

Saint-Gilles of Tripoli

Christian rule over Tripoli came to an end with the death of Byzantine emperor Nicephorus II Phocas in 969. Some 130 years later, the Crusaders reached the city gates and found a fortified settlement where the Arabs had firmly consolidated their presence. Despite reinforcements from the Christian mountain regions, it took them a full decade to ...

European Leaders Urge More ‘Pressure’ on Russia Ahead of Trump-Putin Summit

European leaders urged more "pressure" on Russia overnight Saturday, after the announcement of a Trump-Putin summit to end the war in Ukraine raised concern that an agreement would require Kyiv to cede swathes of territory. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet in the US state of Alaska this Friday to try to resolve the ...