Refugees

Haneen Sayyed

Interview

Minister warns aid cuts to Lebanon risk empowering Hezbollah

Lebanese Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed warns of resurgent sectarian tensions as Israeli strikes drive mass displacement into overcrowded Beirut.

Haneen Sayyed

Haneen Sayyed

Lebanese Minister of Social Affairs

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (R) and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa depart after speaking to the media following talks at the Chancellery on March 30, 2026, in Berlin, Germany.

Analysis

Why Germany may struggle to meet Merz’s 80% Syria repatriation goal

Germany, which hosts the EU’s largest Syrian refugee population, is pushing to repatriate Syrians, but Syria’s domestic issues and legal protections for asylum seekers complicate those efforts.

By Rosaleen Carroll

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

From Egypt to Lebanon: What’s at stake for regional states on Trump’s visa ban list?

The State Department claimed that citizens from the affected countries are more likely to use social welfare services at a high rate.

TOPSHOT - Syrian and Lebanese people in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli celebrate on December 9, 2024, after Islamist-led rebels declared that they have taken the Syrian capital in a lightning offensive, sending President Bashar al-Assad fleeing and ending five decades of Baath rule in Syria. (Photo by Fathi AL-MASRI / AFP) (Photo by FATHI AL-MASRI/AFP via Getty Images)

Clashes and protests in Lebanon over Syria's anniversary: What we know

As celebrations erupted in Lebanon to commemorate the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, Hezbollah supporters held counter-rallies.

Latest News

Interview

UNRWA plans Turkey office to boost Gaza, Syria aid as pledges dip

A boy sits outside the entrance to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) building complex in Gaza City, on Sept. 6, 2025.

Tamara Alrifai

After 13 hours, 150 Gazans allowed to enter South Africa: What to know

A South African Airways (SAA) flight is seen on the tarmac before departing from the O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Sept. 23, 2021.

Culture

London photography exhibition documents daily life in wartorn Gaza

Against erasures

Lebanon begins disarming Palestinian factions after refugee camp hands over weapons

Lebanese army soldiers are stationed at the Burj al-Barajneh camp for Palestinian refugees in Beirut's southern suburbs on Aug. 21, 2025, as armed Palestinian groups in the refugee camps start handing over their weapons.

Afghan refugees are pictured at the Islam Qala border crossing between Afghanistan and Iran on June 28, 2025, following their deportation from Iran.

Taliban slams Iran after 1.8M Afghans deported in past 3 months: What to know

Iran-Afghanistan relations have improved in some respects in recent years, though the increasing deportations of Afghans from the Islamic Republic is creating tensions.

Afghan migrants who were living in Iran as refugees deboard a bus after being deported back to Afghanistan at the zero point between Afghanistan and Iran in the Herat province on Feb. 23, 2025.

Analysis

How Iran’s Afghan expulsions signal new era in national security policing

Iran is deporting Afghan migrants at record speed in a crackdown driven by postwar security strategies, a move which risks diplomatic fallout with the Taliban, labor disruptions in Iran and a deepening humanitarian crisis across the border.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

A photo taken from the Lebanese side of the northern border crossing of al-Arida shows Syrian rebel fighters assisting with the passage of Syrians back into their country, Dec. 10, 2024.

Syria to reopen war-damaged border crossing with Lebanon: What we know

The move comes as the new authorities in both Lebanon and Syria work to ensure border security and better relations.

Palestinians gather for a communal iftar.

Israel expands Gaza buffer zone to 20% as humanitarian situation deteriorates

Israel’s expanded buffer zone will cut off Gaza from Egypt and further partition the Strip, as the humanitarian crisis in the territory deepens.

Members of a family riding a motorcycle drive past a charred car in the town of Jableh in Syria's coastal province of Latakia on March 12, 2025. At least 1,383 civilians, the vast majority of them Alawites, were killed in a recent wave of violence that gripped Syria's Mediterranean coast, a war monitor said on March 12. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP) (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images)

Feature

Fearing for safety, Syria's Alawites who fled to Lebanon have no plans to return

More than 30 members of one family spoke to Al-Monitor after fleeing into northern Lebanon from Syria amid a spasm of sectarian violence in the country. Many remain skeptical that it's safe to return.

Katya Hovnanian-Alexanian

By Katya Hovnanian-Alexanian

A journalist tries to avoid mud splatter as Israeli forces drive on a destroyed road in the Nur Shams camp for Palestinian refugees near Tulkarem, after reportedly issuing demolition notifications for several houses amid a weeks-long offensive in the occupied West Bank on February 26, 2025. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP) (Photo by ZAIN JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Could Israel's West Bank operation lead to annexation long sought by right?

The Israeli military is currently operating in West Bank Area A, which under the Oslo Accords should be administered fully by the Palestinian Authority.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. on February 4, 2025. (Photo by Bryan Dozier / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by BRYAN DOZIER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

From Saudi Arabia to Australia and China, world leaders denounce Trump’s plan to 'take over' Gaza

President Donald Trump’s recent remarks about a possible US takeover of Gaza after relocating the Palestinians caused a wave of uproar across the region and the world.

People in Jabalia erect tents amid the rubble of destroyed buildings as displaced Palestinians return to northern Gaza during a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, Jan. 23, 2025.

'Death itself could not get us out of here!' Gazans reject Trump’s proposal

After suffering more than a year of death and destruction, Palestinians in Gaza stress they will not abandon their land, dismissing the idea floated by the US president to relocate them to neighboring Arab countries.

Demonstrators gather outside the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Jan. 31, 2025 to protest against a plan floated by US President Donald Trump to move Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt and Jordan.

Thousands in Egypt protest Trump’s push to transfer Palestinians

Trump’s recent comments on sending Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan have put the Egyptian and Jordanian leadership on edge and sparked protests among Egyptian civilians.

Members of the Syrian community in Berlin hold flags of Syria and Germany as they celebrate the collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, Dec. 8, 2024.

Analysis

EU seeks channels with HTS as it grapples with post-Assad Syria

The European Union will need a creative solution to establish communications with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a designated terror organization and the caretaker government in Syria.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Syrian pounds are pictured at a currency exchange shop in the town of Sarmada in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, on June 15, 2020.

Syria's interim PM warns foreign currency shortage could hinder refugee return

Nearly 14 years of civil war, international sanctions and the exodus of 4.82 million Syrians have crippled the economy, resulting in a sharp decline of the Syrian pound.

A sign about the heightened level of the counterterrorism response is seen outside HMS Duncan while docked at the Port of Limassol on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, on Oct. 2, 2024.

Cyprus arrests eight Syrians accused of funding terror group: What we know

The arrests come as more Syrians arrive in Cyprus, fleeing the conflicts in Lebanon and Syria.