November 21st, 20250In the days after October 7, 2023, then-President Biden cautioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to make the same mistakes the U.S. made following 9/11. Biden never publicly spelled out his meaning, but it was understood as a warning to Netanyahu: Don’t overreact or overreach, as President George W. Bush had done by...
October 24th, 20250Despite ongoing Israeli violations of the Gaza ceasefire, President Trump’s administration spent the past week showing some seriousness about consolidating the truce and reining in Israel’s far-right, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, not only in Gaza but also in the occupied West Bank, after the Knesset’s initial vote to annex it to...
August 29th, 20250While the Israeli killing machine sharpens its swords to pounce on Gaza City with the declared goal of disarming Hamas, the Trump administration is undertaking a similar mission in Lebanon by exerting maximum pressure on the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah. The push is to force the Lebanese Army into confrontation with Hezbollah...
August 15th, 20250“Greater Israel” — from theory to implementation
The “Greater Israel” project — stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates — is no longer a mere fantasy or “conspiracy theory.” It has become a tangible direction on the ground, evident both in statements by Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,...
July 18th, 20250As ceasefire negotiations in Gaza continue, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has seized the opportunity to continue his policy of deflection from internal crises, aiming to capitalize as much as possible on the new geopolitical reality created by Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood.”
This time, however, he’s doing so through the...
July 11th, 20250At the conclusion of a four-day visit to Washington, which included daily meetings with President Trump and senior members of his administration, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed conditional approval of a temporary ceasefire agreement in Gaza and a partial prisoner exchange with Hamas. He also threatened to resume his...
June 6th, 20250The past week brought no breakthroughs in the multiple flashpoints across the Middle East. Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza raged on, alongside escalated military aggression on Lebanon and Syria. Meanwhile, negotiations between the United States and Iran made no meaningful progress, as Tehran insisted on its...
April 11th, 20250WASHINGTON, D.C. – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s surprise visit to the White House dominated headlines about Middle East developments, yet it was President Trump who set the tone for the next phase in regional policy — one that Netanyahu, labeled by critics as a “war criminal”, found entirely unpalatable.
At the...
March 14th, 20250The past week was filled with contrasting developments, some carrying serious dangers while others offered cautious optimism, shaped by the region’s ongoing conflicts and shifting diplomatic efforts.
Gaza: the struggle of the second phase of the ceasefire
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government pushes...
March 7th, 20251Michigan Rabbi affirms that the new Syrian government seeks to embrace all sects in Syria
Rabbi Asher Lopatin, director of community relations at the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, described his trip to Damascus, Syria, as part of a delegation of five American Jews as welcoming and acceptance by the Syrian people. The...
December 13th, 20240DEARBORN – A large crowd of Syrians in the Detroit area gathered in Dearborn on Sunday to celebrate what they described as a historic and monumental victory for the Syrian opposition to the rule of Bashar al-Assad. Opposition forces had taken control of Damascus on Saturday, Dec. 7, marking a significant turning point in the battle...
December 13th, 20240After more than six decades of Ba'athist rule of Syria, 54 years under the Assad family, and 24 years of Bashar al-Assad’s presidency, the Syrian regime crumbled in a matter of just 11 days. This dramatic turn of events was driven by a rapid advance of armed opposition groups from Idlib to Damascus, supported by Turkey, timed with...
December 6th, 20240As the commander of al Qaeda's franchise in the Syrian civil war, Abu Mohammed al-Golani was a shadowy figure who kept out of the public eye, even when his group became the most powerful faction fighting President Bashar al-Assad.
Today, he is Syria's most recognizable insurgent, having gradually stepped into the limelight since...
December 6th, 20240On Israel’s timing: Turkey turns against the “de-escalation” agreement as armed groups overrun northern Syria and advance southward
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has described the recent sweeping offensive involving formerly rival factions as a meticulously coordinated and long-prepared operation. This multi-faceted...
November 10th, 20230WASHINGTON, D.C./BAGHDAD – On Thursday, U.S. forces were targeted in three attacks in Iraq but suffered no casualties, security sources have said, in the most geographically widespread series of strikes on U.S. assets in a single day since the Israel-Hamas conflict started.
A defective drone in Iraq may have helped keep America from...
September 11th, 20230On Sunday, September 10, the Syrian government called on the United Nations and the international community to hold the United States government “accountable” for the continuing theft of Syrian oil and other natural resources from northeast Syria.
In a letter addressed to the U.N. secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, the Syrian...
September 7th, 20230Syria’s foreign minister has warned that the West is seeking to impose its will on other countries, especially throughout the Middle East. Faisal Mekdad urged Arab countries to use joint action to end challenges the Arab world is facing.
While speaking in Cairo before the Arab League Council 160th session on Wednesday, Mekdad said...
September 4th, 20230According to an Iraqi political faction, the U.S. government’s refusal to leave regions of Syria and plundering the country’s oil resources are part of American efforts to fund and support terrorist groups.
A member of the Iraqi parliament’s Fatah Alliance, A’ed al-Helali, made the statements while being interviewed by the...
August 29th, 20230The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, told Jordanian TV on August 24 that U.S. military forces would remain stationed in northeast Syria to “fight ISIS” for the foreseeable future.
“The ideology is not dead yet, and there are some ISIS terrorists that are still roaming the deserts of Syria and...
August 25th, 20230Amir Saeid Iravani, the Iranian permanent representative to the United Nations, says Iran supports the demands of the Syrian government for a complete withdrawal of “all illegal foreign military forces from Syria.”
During a U.N. Security Council meeting on Wednesday addressing the situation in the war-torn country, Iravani argued...
August 18th, 20231Syria’s representative to the United Nations said that the U.S. has provided armed groups in western Syria with chemical weapons, training the groups to use the weapons to launch a possible false flag attack during a U.N. Security Council session on Wednesday, August 9.
“U.S. occupation forces provided terrorists in Al-Tanf with...
August 18th, 20231According to local reports, U.S. military forces stationed at an airbase in the Anbar province in western Iraq plan to seal off the border running hundreds of kilometers between Iraq and Syria.
The pro-Syrian government al-Watan daily newspaper cited an unnamed Syrian security source, reporting that U.S. troops are planning to close...
July 21st, 20230DAMASCUS — Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani traveled to Damascus on Sunday to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The trip marks the first time an Iraqi premier has visited Syria since 2011.
The discussion covered various topics, including mitigating the drought’s impact on both countries, enhancing...
April 14th, 20230Syria and Saudi Arabia said Thursday they were moving toward reopening embassies and resuming flights between the two countries for the first time in more than a decade.
The joint statement followed a visit by Syria’s top diplomat to the kingdom, the first since Saudi Arabia cut off diplomatic relations with Syria in 2012.
Syria was...
February 3rd, 20230DETROIT — A Dearborn man who was captured on a Syrian battlefield in 2018 has been convicted on charges of providing support to ISIS and attending one of the group's training camps, prosecutors said.
A federal jury convicted Ibraheem Izzy Musaibli, 32, on Monday of charges of providing and attempting to provide material support to...
October 24th, 20220Before Lebanon's government approved a U.S.-brokered deal settling a decades-long maritime boundary dispute with Israel, the powerful Hezbollah had scrutinized the final draft line by line and given a crucial nod of acceptance.
Branded a "terrorist group" by Washington and a sworn enemy of Israel, the Iran-backed Hezbollah was certainly...
September 16th, 20220Syria's simmering 11-year war is at risk of boiling up once again with a return to large-scale combat after several frontlines across the country flared up in recent months, the United Nations warned on Wednesday in a new report.
"Syria cannot afford a return to larger-scale fighting, but that is where it may be heading," said Paulo...
September 15th, 20220ANAHEIM, CA — After years of lobbying by advocates, Anaheim finally designated its Arab American enclave as "Little Arabia" on Tuesday.
In a statement, Anaheim's spokeswoman told CNN the city plans to follow up the designation with in-depth research.
"The Little Arabia designation recognizes an area of our city we've always...
