Middle East

Hamas to Hold Leadership Elections in Coming Months: Sources
Hamas to Hold Leadership Elections in Coming Months: Sources

Hamas is preparing to hold internal elections to rebuild its leadership following Israel's killing of several of the group's top figures during the war in Gaza, sources in the movement said on Monday. "Internal preparations are still ongoing in order to hold the elections at the appropriate time in areas where conditions on the ...

UN Force Says Israeli Tank Fired Near Peacekeepers in Lebanon
UN Force Says Israeli Tank Fired Near Peacekeepers in Lebanon

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said an Israeli tank fired near its peacekeepers on Monday, and warned that such attacks were becoming "disturbingly common". UNIFIL has repeatedly reported Israeli fire near or towards its personnel in recent months, and less than two weeks ago said gunfire from an Israeli position hit close ...

Aoun Urges Hezbollah to “Act Rationally”, Reaffirming State Monopoly on Weapons
Aoun Urges Hezbollah to “Act Rationally”, Reaffirming State Monopoly on Weapons

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun delivered one of his clearest and most direct statements to date on Hezbollah’s arms on Sunday, urging the militia to “act rationally” and fully integrate into the Lebanese state. In a televised interview marking the second anniversary of his election, Aoun laid out his vision for restoring state ...

Iran Protest Toll Mounts as Government Stages Mass Rallies
Iran Protest Toll Mounts as Government Stages Mass Rallies

A violent crackdown on a wave of protests in Iran has killed at least 648 people, a rights group said on Monday, as Iranian authorities sought to regain control of the streets with mass nationwide rallies. The government's call for rallies in support of the Islamic republic drew thousands on Monday, a turnout supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...

After Khamanei: What the Fall of Iran’s Regime Would Mean for the Region
Op-edAfter Khamanei: What the Fall of Iran’s Regime Would Mean for the Region

The fall of Iran's Islamist regime would mark one of the most seismic shifts in Middle Eastern geopolitics since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought it to power. As massive protests grip the country, sparked by economic collapse and hyperinflation, the prospect of regime change grows more tangible.  Unlike the 1979 revolution, which ushered ...

FM Raggi Denounces Hamas, Hezbollah Presence in Lebanon
FM Raggi Denounces Hamas, Hezbollah Presence in Lebanon

Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi delivered a firm message to his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, denouncing the involvement of Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon, in an interview with Sky News Arabia on Monday. According to Raggi, Hamas’s support for the war brought Lebanon “destruction, death, and suffering,” noting that the ...

EU Says Bloc Eyeing Sanctions on Iran
EU Says Bloc Eyeing Sanctions on Iran

The European Union is “looking into” imposing additional sanctions on Iran over the repression of protests throughout the country, the bloc said.  “We are ready to propose new and tougher sanctions following the violent repression of demonstrators,” said the Union's foreign affairs spokesman, Anouar El ...

Syrian Forces Push Out Kurdish Fighters as U.S. Hits ISIS
Syrian Forces Push Out Kurdish Fighters as U.S. Hits ISIS

Syrian government forces have detained 300 Kurds and evacuated more than 400 Kurdish fighters after clashes in Aleppo, the interior ministry has said, as U.S. and allied forces carried out separate “large-scale” strikes against Islamic State targets. An interior ministry official told Agence France-Presse that about 360 Kurdish ...

Trump Says Iran Wants to \
Trump Says Iran Wants to "Negotiate"

U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that Iran’s leadership had called him seeking “to negotiate” after he repeatedly threatened to intervene militarily if Tehran killed protesters. He added, however, that the U.S. "may have to act before a meeting.” Trump has not elaborated on what the U.S. is considering, but said on Sunday that ...

U.S. Says Iran Deployed Foreign Militias to Quell Protests
U.S. Says Iran Deployed Foreign Militias to Quell Protests

The United States said on Saturday it was concerned by reports that the Iranian regime had resorted to foreign fighters to suppress peaceful protests inside the country. In a message published in Persian on X, the U.S. State Department said that members of Hezbollah and Iraqi militias had allegedly been deployed against demonstrators. Washington ...