Courts and the law

Ahmed Shihab‑Eldin attend "Palestine 36" red carpet during the Doha Film Festival 2025 on November 24, 2025 in Doha, Qatar.

Kuwait detains American journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin: What to know

Kuwaiti authorities have been cracking down on alleged violators of the country's media law during the Iran war.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu review a military honor guard on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Hungary in defiance of the International Criminal Court (ICC)'s arrest warrant against him over alleged war crimes in Gaza. Hungary has long-standing ties with Israel, and they been further bolstered up since the start of the war in Gaza, sparked by the Palestinian militant group Hamas's attack on Oct

With Orban’s defeat in Hungary, Israel loses European shield

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cultivated a strong relationship with outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who even withdrew from the International Criminal Court because it issued an arrest warrant against the Israeli leader.

Israeli soldiers patrol a street in Hebron's Old City in the occupied West Bank on January 23, 2026, deployed as settlers entered the area under army protection. (Photo by Mosab Shawer / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

Four Israeli soldiers arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran: What to know

Since the Oct. 7 attacks, several Israelis have been prosecuted for spying for Iran, but this is the first case involving active-duty soldiers.

MOJAHID NAW/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

'Apartheid': Arab countries including UAE, Jordan decry new Israeli law

A group of foreign ministers struck out at a new Israeli law requiring the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of terrorism in military courts.

Latest News

Meet Mojtaba Khamenei, hard-liner with IRGC ties, likely Iran’s next supreme leader

Rouzbeh Fouladi / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

Kuwait amends citizenship law amid revocation spree: What to know

Kuwaiti members of parliament attend a special session for the swearing in ceremony for the prime minister and his cabinet ministers, at the National Assembly in Kuwait City on Jan. 29, 2024.

Turkey backs Libya in legal challenge to Greece-Chevron offshore deal

A general view taken on April 4, 2014, shows oil tanker Morning Glory, during the unloading of oil in the Libyan seaport of Zawiya.

Interview

Treated as 'enemies’: Ahmad Tibi accuses Netanyahu government of indifference to Arab Israeli lives

Arab-Israeli parliament member Ahmad Tibi poses for a picture during an interview with AFP at his office at the Knesset (Israeli parliament) building in Jerusalem on June 25, 2024. The 65-year-old leader of an Arab-majority party told AFP that after October 7, "hundreds of Arab citizens were hunted down, chased by the Israeli police for writing a post or a story empathising with the children of Gaza or saying no to the war." (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP) (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)

Ahmad Tibi

Ahmad Tibi

Knesset member and Ta'al Party leader

Security personnel from the Syrian Ministry of Interior stand outside the Justice Palace ahead of the first trial of more than a dozen suspects linked to massacres that left hundreds dead in Syria's Alawite coastal heartland earlier this year, in Aleppo on November 18, 2025. The first trial of more than a dozen suspects linked to massacres that left hundreds dead in Syria's Alawite coastal heartland earlier this year began on November 18, an AFP journalist in the courtroom said. The massacres in March, whic

Feature

A year since Assad’s fall, Aleppo trial tests Syria’s transitional justice

Syria recently launched its first open trial on the deadly sectarian violence in March, but questions about judicial independence and political influence make the upcoming hearings a major test of accountability in post-Assad Syria as the first anniversary of Assad’s fall approaches.

Alessandra Bajec

By Alessandra Bajec

In this handout by the Israeli Government Press Office, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) looks on as military chief of staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz (R) adjusts the epaulettes of Brig. Gen. Eyal Zamir for his swearing in as military secretary, Tel Aviv, Nov. 26, 2012.

Analysis

Why Netanyahu seeks to remove Israel’s military chief Eyal Zamir

Despite the army's achievements and the challenges it now faces, the Israeli prime minister is doing everything in his power to persuade military chief Eyal Zamir to quit.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Prominent Turkish journalist Fatih Altayli is pictured in this undated image.

Turkey sentences journalist over 4 years in jail for threatening Erdogan

Prominent Turkish journalist Fatih Altayli was sentenced to over four years in prison in a trial government critics say aimed at silencing one of Turkey's most influential journalists and intended to intimidate journalists nationwide.

Bassam Hammoud the vice president of the Jamaa Islamiya in Lebanon, brandishes a rifle as he delivers a speech during a demonstration in Sidon in southern Lebanon on July 19, 2024, a day after an Israeli strike in the Bekaa region killed Mohammed Hamed Jabara, the commander of the Hamas-allied group in Lebanon. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP) (Photo by MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Lebanon's Jamaa Islamiya in spotlight as US moves to designate Muslim Brotherhood

The Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, is a major Sunni political party in the country. But its armed wing has repeatedly attacked Israel during the war with Hezbollah, putting the group under US scrutiny.

Beatrice Farhat

By Beatrice Farhat

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Shikma Bressler, an Israeli physicist and one of the leaders of the protest against the government's judicial overhaul.

Interview

Can protests in Israel halt Netanyahu's second attempt at judicial overhaul?

After two years of focusing on the battle to release the hostages, Israelis are now once again demonstrating against the government’s judicial overhaul plan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participates in a joint news conference with US President Donald Trump (not pictured) in the State Dining Room at the White House, on Sept. 29, 2025, in Washington.

Analysis

After Trump’s pardon letter to Herzog, 4 scenarios emerge for Netanyahu’s trial

President Donald Trump again asked Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been on trial for over five years.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Antonio Brown #84 of the Pittsburgh Steelers celebrates a touchdown during the second half against the New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Dec. 23, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

NFL star Antonio Brown extradited from Dubai: What to know

The US and the UAE do not have an extradition treaty, a factor that affected the proceedings against Binance founder Changpeng Zhao.

United Arab Emirates

Former Director General of Lafarge Bruno Lafont (C) and French lawyer Jacqueline Laffont arrive on the opening day of the trial.

French cement giant Lafarge on trial for ‘funding terrorism’ in Syria: What to know

The French company is accused of funneling millions of dollars via its subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria to jihadi groups and intermediaries to keep its cement plant operating in northern Syria.

A man holds a portrait of Selahattin Demirtas during a gathering of Turkish Kurds for Nowruz celebrations marking the New Year of the Persian calendar and the first day of spring, Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, March 21, 2025.

Erdogan's top ally calls for release of Kurdish leader amid speculation of rift

The nationalist leader has also pushed back against rift speculations between him and the Turkish president amid ongoing peace talks with the Kurdish militants.

Mohmed Ali, left, and a alleged co-conspirator are seen at a gun store on Sept. 25, 2025, according to a criminal complaint. Part of this image has been obscured by the source.

Prosecutors charge two Michigan men in alleged ISIS-inspired plot: What to know

The two men charged, both under 21, allegedly bought firearms and more than 1,600 rounds of ammunition, practiced shooting at gun ranges and scouted potential targets before the FBI intervened.

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus on June 4, 2025.

Feature

Inside Congress' battle to repeal Syria's Caesar sanctions

Five months after President Trump pledged to lift sanctions on Syria, the harshest penalties remain on the books.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Wife of jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti appeals to Trump for his release

Barghouti has been imprisoned in Israel since 2002, after being convicted of planning attacks that killed five people, and he has been held in solitary confinement since October 2023.