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

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Politics & Security

Fighters lift flags of Iraq and paramilitary groups, including al-Nujaba and Kataib Hezbollah, during a funeral in Baghdad for five militants killed a day earlier in a US strike in northern Iraq, on Dec. 4, 2023.

Analysis

Iran-linked militias seek to draw Iraq into regional war

“Iran’s logic is the logic of war,” a Gulf regional official tells Al-Monitor.

Week in Review

By Week in Review

Latest News

Explainer

Estimated 60,000 migrants cross from Morocco into Spanish territory: What we know

Ceuta

Analysis

No Iran commitment, no Trump endorsement: Netanyahu leaves US empty-handed

US President Donald Trump walks to board Marine One on the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, DC, on July 31, 2026. President Trump is traveling to Camp David in Maryland to hold a cabinet meeting and later to Bedminster, New Jersey to spend the weekend at his golf club. (Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP via Getty Images)

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

Exclusive

US nears full withdrawal from Iraq as bases in Kurdistan Region face attacks from Iran, proxies

Patriot

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

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

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images

Iran-linked militias torch KDP office, after IRGC strike on Erbil

Tension is mounting between Iran-linked armed factions and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq after repeated attacks on the largest Kurdish party office in the capital and threats.

A Qatar Airways Airbus A350 airplane takes off from Hamad International Airport near the Qatari capital, Doha, on Jan. 11, 2021.

Qatar’s move to take control of its airspace comes amid warming regional ties

As the United States is gradually retreating from the Middle East to refocus on Russia and China, a new level of cooperation has been witnessed among countries of the region.

Idit Silman

Disaster for Israeli coalition as legislator walks out

Idit Silman has joined the opposition, ending the government's narrow majority in the Knesset.

Ukrainian tourists wait to check in for their flight at Sharm el-Sheikh airport, Egypt, Nov. 5, 2015.

Egypt, Turkey consider coordination to boost tourism

Tourism in both Egypt and Turkey has plummetted due to the Russian war on Ukraine.

Tunisian man holding a baguette is carried by fellow protesters during a demonstration in Tunis on Jan. 18, 2011.

New Tunisian law targets those spreading 'fake news' about food shortages

Tunisia’s president says he is waging a war on speculators hoarding food, but his new decree-law also includes an article that forbids the spreading of “false news and information” about food shortages and the supply chain.

A bus is pictured carrying workers back from a construction site on Sept. 14, 2016, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Dubai partnering with Singapore to improve public transportation

Dubai and Abu Dhabi are also working to make their public transit systems more environmentally friendly, though oil is still a major part of the Emirati economy.

United Arab Emirates

IAEA

Iran's parliament presses Raisi to ask for more in nuclear talks

The letter shifted to yet another level an increasingly toughened Iranian position amid the impasse in the Vienna nuclear talks with the United States.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (R) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Analysis

Orban’s big win in Hungary bears lessons for Turkey’s staid opposition

While Turkey's opposition is seeing a rise in the polls, recent elections in Hungary provide an example for those who think a win is guaranteed.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images

Most of Israel's top leadership condemns war crimes in Bucha, Ukraine

Israel’s foreign minister, defense minister and health minister have all condemned what they named war crimes in Bucha, Ukraine, but the prime minister is still treading lightly.

An Israeli air force F-15 Eagle fighter plane performs at an air show during the graduation of new cadet pilots at Hatzerim base in the Negev desert, near the southern city of Beer Sheva, Israel, June 29, 2017.

For Israel, new Iran deal perhaps better than no deal at all

Officially, Israel is against the negotiated new nuclear deal with Iran, but unofficially, it thinks the new deal would be better than no deal at all.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received on March 26 his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame.

Egypt strengthens ties with Rwanda amid Nile dam crisis

Egyptian-Rwandan relations are currently witnessing rapprochement, as Cairo expands its influence in the Nile Basin to put more pressure on Ethiopia over its controversial Nile dam.

Lebanese students wave the national flag during an anti-government demonstration in the southern village of Hasbaya, Lebanon, Nov. 8, 2019.

Lebanese elections marked with high number of youth candidates

In the parliamentary elections due in May, dozens of youth and women are hoping to break the cycle of political nepotism and bring new faces to the country’s parliament.