Politics & Security - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

politics and security cover image

Politics & Security

A roadside sign marks the entrance to Khnatsakh on May 16, 2025, a border village in Armenia's Syunik Province that has become a frontline community amid rising tensions with Azerbaijan.

Analysis

Azerbaijan envoy hits raw nerve with reminder of Baku’s sway on Turkey-Armenia ties

Baku’s ambassador says borders with Armenia will remain closed until Yerevan changes its constitution, hardening positions just weeks before a pivotal Armenian election seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s peace agenda with Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

OLE BERG-RUSTEN/NTB/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey’s NATO pipeline bid fuels rivalry with Greece: What to know

Ankara says the project would be faster and cheaper than alternatives, but rival routes could sharpen competition with Greece over eastern flank logistics.

Burak Kara/Getty Images

Quake hits Turkey’s Malatya, reviving fear in 2023 disaster zone

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake has struck Turkey’s southeast, an area devastated by the February 2023 twin quakes.

Latest News

Iraqi PM Zaidi holds talks as cabinet deadlock leaves nine posts unfilled

Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets with the head of the Hikmah Movement, Ammar al-Hakim, in Baghdad on May 19, 2026.

Senate advances resolution to limit Trump's Iran war powers

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on May 14, 2026 in Washington, DC.

UAE, France renew defense pact after Rafale jets controversy

A rafale fighter jet prepares for take off on the deck of the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle during the NATO military exercise Neptune Strike 26-2, off the coast of the Greek island of Crete, on April 27, 2026.

United Arab Emirates

Analysis

Iran tightens wartime crackdown across Kurdish, Baluch ethnic regions

Baluch Iranian youths cross a street in Zahedan, in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan bordering Afghanistan, on Dec. 18, 2025.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Diplomatic Correspondent

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

Ezgi Akin

Associate Editor (Turkey)

In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO

Ben Caspit

Israel Columnist

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

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and the German chancellor (not in picture) give a joint press conference at the Chancellery, Berlin, Germany, Jan. 13, 2023.

Explainer: What is behind Iraq's Central Bank shuffle and what is next?

The economic crisis in Iraq as a result of the ongoing rise in the value of the US dollar against the dinar resulted in the prime minister sacking the heads of the Central Bank of Iraq and the Trade Bank of Iraq.

A Saudi family arrive at a hospital in the center of the capital Riyadh, on May 14, 2013.

Saudi Arabia ahead of UK in women's health index, leads Arab world

A global survey reveals that Saudi Arabia is the leading country for women's and girls' health in the Arab world, while other regional countries sat at the bottom of the 122 global list.

ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

2 police officers gunned down in Iran's protest-hit southeast

The attack occurred in an area that has seen the worst of the violence from Iranian security forces determined to crush the anti-government protests that have rocked the nation over the past four months.

GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP via Getty Images

Israeli demolition of West Bank outpost shakes Netanyahu’s cabinet

Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich are on a collision course over an illegal West Bank outpost.

In this aerial photo from a drone, a tram passes an empty road in the Karakoy district on the final day of a four-day lockdown across Istanbul, Turkey, April 26, 2020.

Church blaze kills two in Turkey's Istanbul

A blaze at an Istanbul church left two dead and two others injured, heavily damaging the historical building.

ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey postpones NATO talks on Sweden, Finland bids

Ankara has thrown its hands up in response to Stockholm's permission for a Quran-burning protest as Helsinki hints that Finland could join the alliance without Sweden.

LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images

Netanyahu meets with Jordanian king in Amman, attempts to mend rift

For the first time since 2018, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah in Amman.

An exterior view of the building of US Department of the Treasury is seen on March 27, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Olivier DOULIERY / AFP) (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

Breaking | Last Updated: January 25, 2023, 4:50 pm

US sanctions Hezbollah financial adviser in Lebanon

The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on Lebanese economist Hassan Moukalled, his two sons and his money-exchange business.

Smoke plume rising after the new collapse of the northern section of the grain silos at the port of Lebanon's capital Beirut, which were previously partly destroyed by the 2020 port explosion. (Photo by DYLAN COLLINS/AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon's blast investigator charges former PM Diab, senior security officials

Among those charged are Prosecutor General Ghassan Oweidat, the head of Lebanon's domestic intelligence agency Major General Abbas Ibrahim, former army commander Jean Kahwaji, and other current and former security and judicial officials.

MAYA ALLERUZZO/AFP via Getty Images

Ousted Israeli minister still holds sway in Netanyahu's coalition

Until Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finds a way to reinstate Shas leader Aryeh Deri to his ministerial positions, the ousted minister will wield much of his influence from outside the government.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (C) and head of Egypt's General Intelligence Service Abbas Kamel (R) with CIA Director William Burns (L) during their meeting, Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 23, 2023.

CIA director in Egypt after Libya and Ukraine, meets Sisi

The Egyptian president met on Monday with the CIA director as the two held talks discussing various bilateral, regional and international issues.

Kuwaiti parliament members attend a session of the National Assembly at its headquarters in Kuwait City on Jan. 10, 2023.

Kuwait's government resigns in latest parliament standoff

This is the fifth Kuwaiti government that has resigned in the past two years, highlighting growing tension between the country’s authorities.