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

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Politics & Security

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Caught in the middle, Oman shrugs off Trump's latest Iran threat

For the second time in months, President Donald Trump has threatened to strike the US partner as it holds talks with Iran.

MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Houthis claim new strikes on Saudi Arabia after IRGC warning: What to know

A senior Iranian commander said Saudi Arabia will be unable to the defeat the Yemeni group as the conflict intensifies.

Turkey signals restraint as war of words with Israel escalates over Syria

The Turkish president’s top communications aide says Ankara will not be drawn into the Israeli government's “games” as Washington pushes a Turkey-Israel-Syria deconfliction mechanism.

Islamabad

Syria’s FM pays Pakistan first visit in 19 years amid new regional alignments

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani is paying his office's first visit to Pakistan in nearly two decades after Islamabad, Ankara and Riyadh signed a joint defense pact.

Latest News

Australia summons Israeli ambassador over World Central Kitchen strike: What to know

Zomi Frankcom

Interview

Barzani calls for enhanced air defense for Kurdistan Region to counter drone attacks

Masrour Barzani, Prime Minister of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government, gives a press conference in the autonomous region's capital Arbil on June 25, 2025.

Masrour Barzani

Masrour Barzani

KRG Prime Minister

Russia’s Putin hosts Saddam Hifter amid instability in Libya: What to know

Saddam Hifter meets with Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin

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

West Bank fence

Israel plans 60-mile concrete wall in northern West Bank

Palestinians believe that Israel’s decision to build a concrete separation wall in the northern West Bank aims to entrench its control over their lands and draw new borders.

Iranian women wave Palestinian and national flags during a march to condemn the ongoing Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, Palestine Square, Tehran, Iran, May 19, 2021.

Gaza factions worry about fallout from Iranian protests

Hamas and Islamic Jihad are worried that the protests might impact Iran’s military and financial support.

GERD

Egypt bets on US to restart talks on Nile dam dispute

Egypt hopes that the momentum from the COP27 summit will help to resume the stalled negotiations on the controversial dam Ethiopia is building on the Nile.

Israeli security forces gather at the scene of an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem, Nov. 23, 2022.

Jerusalem bomb attack which killed Israeli sign of escalation in West Bank

The Jerusalem operation came at a time when the Palestinian territories are witnessing a field escalation in the wake of the right-wing victory in the Israeli elections, which may keep the door widely open for escalation in the coming period.

Syria protest

US again tries to thwart Turkish invasion of northern Syria

Erdogan says military operations are "just beginning" against Syrian Kurdish groups, while teasing possibility of talks with Assad.

A barricade set up by Palestinians blocks a street in case of an Israeli army raid, Jenin, West Bank, Nov. 23, 2022.

Cooperation with Palestinian Authority behind return of abducted Israeli body

Israel's leadership, the Palestinian Authority, the Americans, the UN and even Islamic Jihad contributed to the return to Israel of a body abducted in a West Bank hospital.

AFP via Getty Images

Land mines continue to haunt women, children in Yemen

Yemeni women and children continue to die from land mines planted by Houthi rebels across the country.

Syrian demonstrators gather to protest Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in the opposition-held city of al-Bab, on the border with Turkey, Aleppo province, Syria, Oct. 21, 2022.

Syrian National Army police clashes with peaceful protesters in al-Bab

The police of the Syrian National Army assaulted protesters near the city of al-Bab following civil protests calling for controlling the security situation in the city and holding the killers of a prominent activist accountable.

Erdogan

Erdogan says meeting with Syria's Assad is 'possible'

The Turkish president adds that "there is no resentment or bitterness in politics."

Iraq Sudani

Iraqi government, parliament working together to pass bills

The pace of completion of pending legislation is quickening amid noticeable cooperation between the executive and legislative branches of the current government.

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Two Egyptian girls murdered in Syria's notorious Islamic State camp al-Hol

Two Egyptian girls have been found killed in the Kurdish-run Al-Hol camp that holds many Islamic State fighters and their relatives in northeastern Syria.

Police officers cordon off the area surrounding a building as firefighters extinguish a fire that broke out in one of the apartments in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees, northern Gaza strip, Nov. 17, 2022.

Palestinians mourn victims of Gaza fire

A fire in a residential block in the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, killed 21 people as Civil Defense crews were unable to control the flames amid their modest capabilities.