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

Syrians gather at a market as they prepare for the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in the war-ravaged town of Ariha in the rebel-held northwestern Idlib province, Syria, March 31, 2022.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader seeks more popular support in Syria's Idlib

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has recently visited the Jabal al-Zawiya area in Idlib upon an invitation by locals, to stress his organization’s ongoing support for the town.

US troops Syria

Four US soldiers injured by rocket attack in Syria

The barrage suggests Iran's proxies will continue to harass US forces in the region, whether or not the sides return to the 2015 nuclear deal.

Linda Sarsour

Explainer: Why Geico dropped pro-Palestine activist Linda Sarsour as 'diversity speaker'

Linda Sarsour’s harsh criticisms of Israel have been deemed anti-Semitic by numerous Jewish organizations in the United States, though she denies holding hateful views and has significant support among some progressives.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

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

Yemen Hadi

US welcomes Yemen's leadership shakeup as president cedes power

The exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's transfer of power to a newly formed presidential council comes days after a nationwide cease-fire took hold in Yemen.

The Marshall Islands-flagged Turkish-owned Yasa Jupiter ship, which was hit by a missile off the coast of Ukraine's port city Odessa, sails on the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey, on Feb. 25, 2022.

Drifting sea mines bring Ukraine war to Turkey’s Bosporus Strait

At least three mines thought to have crossed the Black Sea have been spotted around the north mouth of one of the world’s busiest maritime channels.

Iran covid

Iran lifts COVID-related travel bans

All vaccinated people will be able to visit the Islamic Republic following the end of the ban imposed during the Omicron wave.

Victoria Jones/Getty Images

Iran hard-line press says Tehran will release US prisoners for unfrozen assets

The US State Department has denied reports from three hard-line outlets that billions of dollars in Iranian funds are to be unblocked in exchange for Tehran releasing three imprisoned Iranian-Americans.

Israel's centrist former television anchor Yair Lapid, the prime minister's main challenger, votes at a polling station, in the fourth national election in two years, Tel Aviv, Israel, March 23, 2021.

Israel’s Yair Lapid battered by security, coalition crises

Instead of basking in the success of the regional Negev summit, Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid must face security challenges and severe coalition crisis.

Egyptair

Egypt expands airline routes throughout Africa

Egypt's air route expansion linked to strengthening ties with African countries.

West Bank fence

Terror attacks bring work on separation fence back to Israeli agenda

With so few Palestinians offered working permits in Israel, the government prefers looking the other way on those who slip through the separation fence and enter clandestinely into the country.

Iranians visit the spot in the courtyard of Imam Reza shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad on April 6, 2022, where a day earlier a Muslim cleric was killed.

Three Iranian clerics stabbed, one killed in attack at shrine

The attack of three Iranian clerics has put authorities on alert about a possible backlash.

UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinians Francesca Albanese.

Interview

Israel’s occupation has crossed the ‘red line of legality,’ says new UN rapporteur

In an interview with Al-Monitor, the newly appointed UN special rapporteur for the Palestinians, Francesca Albanese, speaks about her plans to address human rights violations in the Palestinian territories, while fending off a smear campaign launched against her by Israel.

Francesca Albanese

Francesca Albanese

UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories