Arab World

‘The work is Arab, by and for the diverse Arab peoples. But it is beyond that, thoroughly human’ Written by Omid Memarian Massoud Hayoun, ‘Sick of foul, I’ll take the goat,’ 2024. Acrylic on canvas, [91.4 x 121.9 cm (36 x 48 in). Photo courtesy of the Larkin Durey gallery, London. ( Globalvoices.org ) – […]

Hizbullah

Risking Regional Chaos: The US-Israeli Plan to End UN Peacekeeping in S. Lebanon

The Conversation

By Vanessa Newby, Monash University and Chiara Ruffa, Sciences Po (The Conversation) – The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) is seen by many as an essential peacekeeping buffer between Israel, Lebanon and Hezbollah. But Israeli pressure, US doubts over Unifil’s cost-effectiveness and the fragile state of Lebanon’s politics means there is a risk […]

Climate Crisis

When even Saudi Arabia Jumps into Solar and Wind Power, You know Change is Here

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Saudi Arabia’s massive oil deposits and its 9.53 million barrels per day (bpd) of petroleum production make it an enormous carbon polluter and the foremost enemy of climate science and of electric vehicles. Some 38% of Saudi power plants use petroleum and 62% of electricity generation is done by domestically […]

Climate Crisis

America may have invaded Iraq for its Oil, but Solar Power is what Iraqis now Want

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iraqi farmers, tired of high electricity bills and frequent blackouts, are turning to solar panels, according to Khalid Al-Mousuly at Reuters. Farmers need electricity to run water pumps for irrigation. It isn’t just the farmers. With nearly a gigawatt annually in solar panel imports, Iraq has emerged as the third-largest […]

Arab League

Can the Arab League’s Break with Hamas Shift the Course of History?

Foreign Policy in Focus

The United States must move beyond rhetoric about Hamas’s “bad faith” and offer incentives—such as aid packages or sanctions relief—to bolster moderate Palestinian voices. By Imran Khalid | ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – In Gaza, where hunger gnaws at children and rubble buries hope, the Arab League issued a rare, unified declaration in […]

Featured

Saudi Arabia in Modern History

Marc Martorell Junyent

Book Review – David Commins, “Saudi Arabia: A Modern History” (Yale University Press: New Haven and London, 2025). Munich (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The rise of Saudi power in the eighteenth century is not easy to explain. There are few sources, and most of them are highly partisan, remarks David Commins, a professor […]

Authoritarianism

Saudi Arabia: Executions Surge in bid to Crush Dissent (HRW)

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – Saudi authorities have been carrying out an unprecedented surge in executions in 2025 without apparent due process, Human Rights Watch and the Middle East Democracy Center said today. The June 14 execution of Turki al-Jasser, a journalist known for exposing corruption within the Saudi royal family, raises concerns that the […]

Featured

Why is Israel Playing Spoiler in the New Syria?

Mohammed Samaana

Belfast (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Last week, Israel launched the latest of some 300 raids into Syria in the past few months. Some such incursions, as with a major set of airstrikes on Syria in July shows its determination to be a destabilizing factor in the region. Israel claimed that it carried out […]

Climate Crisis

In Syria, Women are Bearing the Brunt of Climate Breakdown

Middle East Monitor

by Zahra Zaman ( Middle East Monitor ) – Syria had been embroiled in a protracted conflict and plagued by authoritarianism for decades. While the brutal regime of Bashar al Asad has collapsed, the ordeal is far from over for Syrians as they are now confronted with the rapidly accelerating threat of climate change looming […]