World News Insights: Opinion Articles

Last week, the world turned its attention to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as US and Ukrainian officials met to resolve the long-standing allies’ dispute that had exploded, two weeks ago, in the White House. The two sides chose Saudi Arabia to host this historic meeting, preferring it over the multitude of…

In the Arabic dictionary, the verb “yumana’” or “tamana’” derives from “mana’”, with its noun form being “mumana’a”, meaning “resistance” or “opposition.” The dictionary defines “mumana’a” as a form of “dispute” that arises between two or more parties. On the surface, Iranian officials present…

As France’s President Emmanuel Macron casts himself as Europe’s new leader in a joust against Donald Trump he might do well to have a look at two great Frenchmen who advised against haste and hubris. The first is that paragon of diplomacy Talleyrand who managed to survive four regimes, including…

The events that transpired on the Syrian coast were triggered by a terrorist operation at the hands of "remnants" of the deposed regime. However, it quickly morphed into something else, something much bigger that raises a series of pressing questions about our lives and our politics: How can we…

Hezbollah is not with us... It is stuck in the pre-October 7, 2023 era! That impression stands out from the televised rhetoric of Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem. "We will not put an end to the resistance, whatever you do." He dismissed the notion that the party is fighting "others'…

President Ahmad Al-Sharaa prudently defused a dangerous crisis in a matter of days- a crisis that posed a dramatic threat to the country. Indeed, the powerful winds of incitement and misinformation could have turned the sparks of what happened in the coastal regions into a massive fire. Bloodshed,…

President Mahmoud Abbas surprised the Palestinian people with his announcement of what he called reform measures taken in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Fatah movement. In the PLO, he promised to appoint a deputy president. In Fatah- and this is what really matters- he…

It is rare to hear of a regime in our time that has triumphed and treated its followers and affiliates with nobility and tolerance, as we have seen with Ahmad al-Sharaa in Syria. In Iraq, the Baathists dragged communists through the streets, and before them, the communists participated in the…

Safeguarding victory is often more difficult than achieving it. That is self-evident, all the more so when powers and factions are eagerly seeking to overturn the shifts we had seen in Syria a few months ago. These actors were caught off guard by the pace at which the shift unfolded months…

Many have recently recalled how, in 1988, Khomeini, accepted UN Security Council Resolution 598, a decision he linked to "drinking poison,” ending Iran’s war with Iraq. At the time, despite the ideological excess that has always defined it, Iran behaved like a state that had run out of energy and…

US President Donald Trump’s address to Congress, the longest in American history at 100 minutes, was made after the emergency Arab Summit in Cairo. The Summit had endorsed Egypt’s plan for the reconstruction of Gaza, firmly rebuffed the displacement of Palestinians from the enclave, proposed the…

Anyone in Beirut observing the developments unfolding in Syria will be gripped by fear. It is very dangerous to try to turn back the hands of time. The collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime was a major shock that surprised his allies and opponents alike. In Syria, some refuse to believe that the…