World News Insights: Opinion Articles

On this day, September 11, 2001, a full quarter century ago, the world witnessed attacks against the United States of America. It was an event that took the world by surprise and threw it into confusion, given that it targeted the most powerful state in the world, and given the enormity of the…

This morning, the great city of New York will once again hold a ritual ceremony that has become a fixed part of its annual agenda for a quarter of a century. The names of the 2,977 men, women and children who died in the terrorist attacks on World Trade Center’s twin towers on September 11 will be…

Nearly two years after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime, Syria has begun taking its first steps on a long and complex path toward holding those responsible for violations committed during the years of war to account. The verdict issued in absentia sentencing Assad and several senior officials…

In Lebanon's long-running debate over neutrality, the question often begins from the outside: Can Lebanon be neutral in a region engulfed in conflict? And can a small state situated at the center of intertwined regional and international conflicts distance itself from competing axes? But perhaps…

It can be said that the Libyan army's restoration of control over more than 70 percent of Libyan territory is a national achievement. Yet the capital, Tripoli, and its surrounding areas remain under the control of militias. The word "militia" is originally a foreign term in the Arabic lexicon, and…

On September 11, 2001, the men of al-Qaeda wanted to break the West. Not through a prolonged war, but in a single battle. Not on the ground, but high above the earth. One spectacular assault, and the myth of the West and its towers would come to an end. It would suffer its losses in the richest…

For nearly three years now, precisely since October 7, 2023, earthquakes and hurricanes have been battering the world, and what matters most to us is what is happening in the Middle East. It is no longer the site of confounding wars alone, but of "confounders" no one expected to carry such weight,…

The division among the Lebanese is not over matters of detail or marginal questions in national life. It is over strategic choices. How do we liberate the land from the Israeli occupation, which some believe we brought upon ourselves once again? How do we implement the decision to confine weapons…

The Lebanese authority’s attempt to renew the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) did not succeed. This was expected due to the US position, which has "officially" held for some time that it is time to reduce UN expenses, particularly for global peacekeeping forces…

Democracy is neither a sacred virtue nor the “end of history.” It is a system of governance that responds to the prevailing map of material power and influence. If the nature of that map changes, the political system changes with it. So, is artificial intelligence in the process of reshaping the…

After a suffocating siege and a gradual encroachment, strategically placed Ali al-Taher ridge has fallen, in what appears to be timing that serves the electoral interests of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. From the outset, it was evident that the fate of the Imad 4 tunnels would be no…

Four days from now mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. I remember the sheer scale of shock that struck everyone at the time, and how reactions subsequently unfolded, each according to their own perspective, ranging from conspiracy theories to the usual narratives. The event was…