May 2020

For nine years, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has waged a brutal civil war against his enemies and allowed his friends to profit from it. Now, he’s squeezing those same allies solidify power and ensure the economy stays afloat as…

Also, Biden adviser criticizes Trump policy on Iran, but says sanctions “very effective”; Expat labor is biggest loser in Saudi cutbacks; Egyptian actor speaks up about transgender son; more!

A record 9.3 million people are now food insecure in Syria as spiralling prices and the coronavirus pandemic compound the damage of a nine-year war, the World Food Programme said Thursday. "Record high food prices & now…

Secretary-General of the Lebanese movement Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has branded the Israeli Defence Minister, Naftali Bennett, an “idiot” over claims he made that Iran will be forced to withdraw from Syria by the end of the…

Last February, at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art evening sale in London, David Hockney’s iconic 1966 painting The Splash was sold to an unidentified buyer for a record price of £23.1 million ($28.6 million). News quickly surfaced that …

Lebanon begins negotiations with the International Monetary Fund this week, seeking the IMF’s financial assistance for the first time as the country grapples with an acute financial crisis. The negotiations mark a new phase in a crisis…

We have recently seen an increased effort from France to mediate in Syria and Libya. However, it is still unclear whether French foreign policymakers want sustainable peace in two of the most conflicted battlefields of our time.…

Nasrallah denied that Israeli air strikes have pushed either Hezbollah or Iran to retreat from Syria Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Wednesday that Israel is now…

SOHR activists have reported that the number of people who were killed in today's explosion which hit Shallah village in the south of Ras Al-Ain (Sere Kaniye) rose to four. The fatalities are two members of Turkish-backed factions and a…