This is Beirut, 23/07 20:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
A Saudi delegation visiting Damascus on Wednesday inked investment and partnership deals valued at $5 billion to help rebuild war-battered Syria, the oil-rich Gulf kingdom announced. Saudi Arabia has been a major backer of the new Syrian government, which seized power after Islamist-led rebels toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December ...
Tylia El Helou, 23/07 14:15 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
United States Tom Barrack Syria Hezbollah Israel Lebanon
As Lebanon teeters on the edge of another potential war, with Hezbollah’s arms drawing the country closer to full-scale conflict with Israel, a more existential question arises: Why does the Lebanese state continue to abdicate its constitutional responsibilities? Why is the government still unwilling, decades after the Taif Agreement, to assert ...
Hussain Abdul-Hussain, 22/07 15:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Lebanon Syria Middle East Druze Kurds United States
Self-determination in the Middle East is inconsistent. For Muslim Palestinians, statehood is seen as an unfulfilled destiny. Yet for religious minorities like the Druze or ethnic groups like the Kurds, pursuing sovereignty is branded as betrayal or capitulation to imperialism. There’s no clear logic to why Israel should be divided into two ...
Philippe Abi Akl, 22/07 08:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Israel Benjamin Netanyahu Syria Sweida Bedouin Ahmad al-Sharaa Druze
As heavy clashes enter their second week in Syria’s southern province of Sweida, pitting Druze factions against tribal groups backed by the Syrian Army and security forces, Israel’s quiet but deliberate involvement is raising alarm. Official claims of protecting Syria’s Druze are met with widespread skepticism. The real story lies in Tel ...
This is Beirut, 21/07 21:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Syria Sweida SOHR Ahmed al-Sharaa
Syrian authorities evacuated Bedouin families from the Druze-majority city of Sweida on Monday, after a ceasefire in the southern province halted a week of sectarian bloodshed that a monitor said killed more than 1,260 people. The violence, which followed massacres of Alawites in March and clashes involving the Druze in April and May, has shaken ...
David Hale , 21/07 17:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Lebanon Syria Iran Hezbollah Israel United States
Recent developments in Syria are causing surprise and confusion. In a bold move, President Trump and his administration acquiesced to requests from the Turkish and Saudi leadership and lifted most sanctions on the Ahmed al-Sharaa regime, his Salafist HTS movement, and Syria itself. It did so without conditionality, without much effort to ...
Michel Touma, 21/07 09:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Hezbollah US Secretary of State Druzes Syria
In the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse in the early 1990s, French author and political analyst Alain Minc published a book with a strikingly evocative title that captured the spirit of the moment: The Revenge of Nations. He argued that decades of highly centralized communist rule had failed to erase the national sentiments of populations ...
Charles Chartouni, 21/07 09:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Syria Lebanon United States Israel Hezbollah
The interpretation of political events can often lead to misunderstandings and confusion. It is crucial to establish clear communication and guidelines to navigate such complexities effectively. Without these measures, the potential for misinterpretation increases, which can exacerbate tensions and hinder progress. Therefore, fostering an ...
This is Beirut, 20/07 14:46 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Calm returned to southern Syria's Sweida province on Sunday, a monitor and AFP correspondents reported, after a week of sectarian violence between Druze fighters and rival groups that killed more than 1,000 people. A ceasefire announced on Saturday appeared to be holding after earlier agreements failed to end fighting between longtime rivals ...
Amine Jules Iskandar, 20/07 09:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
Lebanon Syria Jordan Middle East Iraq
In the Levant, Islam took root in the major Mediterranean coastal cities—Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, Sidon, Beirut, Tripoli, Tartus and Latakia. Surrounded by Christian and Jewish hill communities or overshadowed by dominant Christian mountain ranges, these urban populations never felt isolated. Instead, they saw themselves as fully integrated into the ...
This is Beirut, 20/07 05:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
United States Syria Washington Damascus
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday called on the Syrian government's security forces to prevent jihadists from entering and "carrying out massacres" in the conflict-stricken south of the country. "If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria... they must ...
This is Beirut, 19/07 17:15 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Syria Sweida Druze Israel United States
Syrian Bedouin and their allies fought Druze fighters in the community's Sweida heartland for a seventh day Saturday despite a ceasefire ordered by the government following a US-brokered deal to avert further Israeli military intervention. AFP correspondents reported clashes in the west of the provincial capital as Druze fighters battled ...