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

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Politics & Security

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Explainer

Iran war pushes up coal use, complicating Turkey’s COP31 pledge

Turkey is asking world leaders at COP31 to back a global push to use more electricity, even as the Iran war has driven up natural gas prices and pushed some power producers back to coal.

Ahmed al-Alwani in an undated photo

Ex-Iraqi MP Ahmed Alwani found dead in Lebanon: What to know

Ahmed al-Alwani was a prominent leader of anti-government protests by Iraqi Sunnis in 2013, and was released from prison last year.

Iranian-made Zolfaghar missiles

Iran unveils new underground 'missile city': What to know

Iran has moved much of its missile stockpile underground as the threat of a new war looms.

OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey bars MP’s wife from travel after his fund scandal criticism: What to know

Opposition politicians and rights advocates described Yonca Verdioglu Sik’s brief detention as an attempt to intimidate her husband, opposition lawmaker Ahmet Sik, over his criticism of the government.

Latest News

GCC to build military command center in Kuwait as region simmers: What to know

ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP via Getty Images

Hegseth strikes defiant tone, calls House impeachment process 'farce'

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Jared Szuba

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

Explainer

From Oct. 7 inquiry to blocking Netanyahu: Eisenkot's bloc maps out Knesset agenda

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) casts his ballot, next to his wife Sara

Slotkin, Van Hollen emerge as potential challengers to Schumer’s Senate leadership

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 23: U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) speaks at a press conference on China AI export controls at the U.S. Capitol on September 23, 2026 in Washington, DC. Slotkin, joined by fellow Senate Democrats, urged Senate Republican's and the Trump administration to enact stronger export controls on AI technology and computer chips to China. The Democrats also call for a vote on bipartisan export control legislation, including the AI OVERWATCH Act, the MATCH Act, and the Chip Security Act. (

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

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leaves after speaking at a protest against the Israeli government, Jerusalem, April 6, 2022.

Netanyahu’s defense team scores points

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can be happy with his week: His rival Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is deep in coalition trouble, and his own trial offers him some small legal victories.

Iranians work at a food store in Tehran on May 13, 2021.

Nationwide protests in Iran as food prices increase

Subsidy cuts have led to nationwide protests in Iran.

A firefighter truck celebrates with a water jet the first Yemen Airways flight in six years.

US welcomes Sanaa's first commercial flight in six years

The Jordan-bound flight on Monday came as part of a UN-brokered truce struck in April.

A picture taken on October 17, 2017, shows excess flammable gasses burning from gas flares at the Havana oil field, west of the multiethnic northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

Iraqi Kurdistan government denies taking control of oil fields in Kirkuk

An oil company run by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil alleged that the Kurdistan Regional Government’s forces took over some oil fields in the disputed northern province.

Sudan's military leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) gives a press conference upon his return from Moscow, at the airport in Khartoum, Sudan, March 2, 2022.

Wave of atrocities in Darfur tarnishes Sudan’s coup authorities

Military leaders in Khartoum and their allies in armed groups from the western region have been accused of direct and indirect responsibility for the worst episode of atrocities since the generals’ seizure of power in October.

US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to reporters while departing the Senate Chamber at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on May 11, 2022.

Harris stresses US-Emirati partnership after MBZ meeting

The visit by Vice President Kamala Harris and other US officials come as relations between Washington and Abu Dhabi hit a rough patch.

United Arab Emirates

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a press conference after the NATO summit at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters in Brussels on June 14, 2021.

Turkey continues to play hard ball over Sweden, Finland NATO membership

Turkey’s Islamic-leaning Justice and Development Party government is demanding that both countries end their arms embargoes on Turkey over its military intervention in 2019 against the Kurds in northeast Syria.

Syrian rebel fighters man anti-aircraft guns.

Syrians dodge military conscription

Syrian military-age men are fleeing conscription, forcing them to defer their future or pay back the government.

Muslim devotees pray on the first day of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, in al-Jarif suburb, Khartoum, Sudan, May 2, 2022.

Skepticism about Sudanese military's calls for dialogue

Analysts believe the recent call by Sudan’s military leaders for a dialogue to overcome the ongoing political crisis will not lead to any results.

Yahya Sinwar, head of the political wing of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, speaks during a meeting in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, April 30, 2022.

Israel targets Hamas leader after call to attack Israelis with 'cleaver, ax or knife'

Israel may be targeting Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar following the ax attack in the central city of Elad.

Workers celebrate waving Ethiopias flag during the first power generation ceremony at the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Guba, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022.

Ethiopia to supply South Sudan with electricity, as Nile dam talks continue to falter

Ethiopia plans to export electric power to South Sudan as part of an electrical interconnection project between the two countries, as negotiations with Sudan and Egypt on Ethiopia’s controversial dam on the Nile River are at a dead end.

Palestinian Chief negotiator Ahmed Qorei Abu Ala (l) shakes hands with his Israeli counterpart Uri Savir (r) at the Taba hotel on the Egyptian shore of the Red Sea after signing the historical Taba agreement to extend Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank. Yasser Arafat, chairman of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is in the center. Sept. 24, 1995.

Uri Savir, key negotiator in Oslo Accords, passes away at 69

The death of former Foreign Ministry Director General Uri Savir, one of Israel's more creative and relentless peace-negotiators, leaves a void among those who battle for coexistence.