Ethnic/Religious Minorities

Police vehicles are seen on a road after a shooting incident at Bondi Beach in Sydney on Dec. 14, 2025.

What we know about Ahmed al-Ahmed, bystander who wrestled attacker in Sydney shooting

The 43-year-old man, a father of two and the owner of a fruit shop in a Sydney suburb, was shot twice.

By Rosaleen Carroll

In Washington, DC, US, reporting on the Middle East

Iranian soldiers keep watch at a patrol post in Zabol, southeastern Iran, near the Afghan border, on Oct. 10, 2012.

Analysis

Militant merger in Iran’s Baluchistan signals new threat to Tehran

The group’s outreach to broader ethnic communities reflects a strategic bid for wider legitimacy and a role in the wider struggle against the Islamic Republic.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Head of Israel's Raam, Mansour Abbas, speaks at his campaign headquarters in the northern Israeli city of Tamra before national election polls close, on Nov. 1, 2022

Analysis

Stunt or recalibration? Israel's Raam to break with Muslim Brotherhood

Raam leader Mansour Abbas took a huge political risk this week, announcing the party will sever its ties with the Islamic Movement.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

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Culture

In first, Syria approves restoration of Jewish property, synagogues

The new organization is the latest sign of Damascus’ outreach to Syria's dwindled Jewish community.

Latest News

As Syria marks one year since Assad fall, some minorities skip celebrations

TOPSHOT - This aerial view shows people gathering to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the uprising against Syria's former president Bashar al-Assad for the first time since he was toppled in the Umayyad Square in the centre of Damascus on March 15, 2025. The rally in Damascus was the capital's first after years of repression under Assad, during which the square was the sole preserve of the ousted president's supporters. Activists called on people to hold similar demonstrations in the major cities of Homs

Pope Leo gets rock star's reception in Lebanon, drawing cheers, celebrations

Pope Leo XIV waves to a crowd of youths upon his arrival at the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerke, north of the capital Beirut, on December 1, 2025. Leo prayed for peace in Lebanon and the region on December 1 on day two of his trip to the multi-confessional country, with joyful Lebanese welcoming the pontiff at two famous pilgrimage sites. (Photo by Giuseppe CACACE / AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon celebrates Pope Leo’s visit as Israel escalates attacks

A giant billboard of Pope Leo XIV along the highway leading to Beirut's international airport, Nov. 20, 2025.

In first foreign visit, Pope Leo meets Erdogan, urges Turkey to uphold pluralism

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan greets Pope Leo XIV during a welcome ceremony at the Presidential Palace, Ankara, Nov. 27, 2025.

Israel’s ‘Mizrahi revolution’ enters a new stage

Education Minister Naftali Bennett is acting to include works by Mizrahi figures in literature and poetry in the school curriculum.

Thousands left stateless in Iran amid ID card limbo

Thousands of mainly ethnic Balochs are deprived of access to basic government services in Iran as they are formally stateless without state-issued ID cards.

Nationality Law leads some Druze to re-evaluate identity

While Druze soldiers and generals in the Israel Defense Forces have taken the lead in protesting against the discriminatory aspects of the law defining Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, many Israeli Druze are saying the controversial legislation came as no surprise.

Genocide still haunts Iraq's Yazidis

Four years after the genocide against them, Yazidis mark its anniversary without a noticeable improvement in their situation.

Palestinians and Arab Israelis demonstrate in solidarity with protests in the Gaza Strip on May 4, 2018 near the Erez crossing point with Gaza. - Hundreds of Palestinians began gathering along the Gaza Strips border with Israel for a sixth consecutive Friday of mass protests following violence in which dozens of Gazans have been killed by Israeli forces. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo credit should read AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images)

Without conscription, will Israel's Arab citizens ever obtain equal rights?

The relative contribution of Arab Israelis to the shaping of Israeli culture, economy and science is more significant than that of their Druze neighbors, yet Israeli Jewish society refuses to acknowledge it.

Israeli Bedouins hold flags during a rally marking the fifth anniversary of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit near the southern kibbutz of Kerem Shalom June 25, 2011. The International Red Cross called on Hamas on Thursday to provide proof that Shalit is still alive nearly five years after his capture by Palestinian militants. June 25, 2011 marks the fifth anniversary of Shalit's capture. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CIVIL UNREST ANNIVERSARY) - GM1E76P1TT401

Israel’s Bedouin sidelined as Netanyahu makes deal with Druze

The Bedouin community is bitter over the offer outlined by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to assuage the Druze community's concerns about the controversial new Nationality Law.

Druze anger rising over Israel’s Nationality Law

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not foresee the degree of anger the Nationality Law would generate among the Druze, with protests spreading quickly, including to the military.

Nationality law makes Israel's Druze second-class citizens

The Druze community in Israel has condemned the Jewish Nationality Law, which effectively demotes them to second-class citizens despite their military and other service to Israel.

Iraqi Turkmen shout slogans holding weapons as they gather to express their willingness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Jihadist militants who have taken over several northern Iraqi cities on June 23, 2014, in the Iraqi village of Taza Khormato, 20 kilometers south of the city of Kirkuk. Sunni Arab militants hold a string of towns and surrounding areas west and south of the the ethnically mixed oil city of Kirkuk. AFP PHOTO / MARWAN IBRAHIM (Photo credit should read MARWAN IBRAHIM

Turkmens see chance to expand influence in Kirkuk

With Kurdish peshmerga gone, and Kirkuk back under Baghdad's authority, Turkmens in the province feel their time might have arrived.

How a tea kettle came to symbolize Turkish election opposition

The Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and their imprisoned leader and candidate, Selahattin Demirtas, are running a positive and creative election campaign, rattling the nerves of an increasingly anxious Justice and Development Party and government.

Kurdish singer aspires to run for Turkish parliament on AKP ticket

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan surrounds himself with celebrities such as legendary Kurdish Arab singer Ibrahim Tatlises as a means of boosting support.

Ankara backtracks on freedom to commemorate Armenian murders

The 2018 commemoration of the Armenian massacres was memorable for the ban on using the word "genocide" and a big drop in attendance.