By Wesam Bahrani 

Zionist regime expands Gaza aggression 

TEHRAN – Escalating attacks by the occupying Zionist regime are reshaping Gaza’s truce, forcing the resistance into choices.

By Sondoss Al Asaad 

Syria in the balance: Managed fragmentation, external leverage, and the reordering of power

BEIRUT—Syria is entering a new and delicate phase in which the language of “stability” increasingly masks a reality of managed fragmentation and intensified foreign influence.

By Shahab Sarmadi 

Israel’s uncounted massacre in Gaza: The 200,000 death estimate and the silence on genocide

TEHRAN – The scale of death in Gaza has reached a level that is almost impossible to comprehend, yet the world continues to treat it as an abstraction. In comments reported by Anadolu, Stuart Casey Maslen, head of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, warned that Gaza’s population has declined by more than 10 percent since Israel launched war on the enclave on October 7, 2023.

By Wesam Bahrani 

Rafah crossing: Symbolic gesture or start of a new era? 

TEHRAN – After two years of closure, the Rafah land crossing has once again come into the spotlight. 

By Sondoss Al Asaad 

When survival becomes a target: Lebanon faces U.S.–backed Israeli aggression

BEIRUT— As tensions continue to rise across West Asia, Lebanon’s political scene is increasingly shaped not by its internal files, but by the shadow of a wider regional confrontation. 

By staff writer 

Olmert’s belated confession: When ‘ethnic cleansing’ enters Israel’s political vocabulary

TEHRAN – Ehud Olmert’s recent article describing a “violent and criminal attempt at ethnic cleansing” in the occupied West Bank reads less like a revelation than a confession delivered far too late. What makes his words notable is not that they uncover a hidden reality, but that they strip away the last remnants of plausible deniability from within Israel’s own political establishment. Palestinians, human rights organizations, and international observers have documented these crimes for decades. Olmert’s intervention matters only because it confirms that those at the very center of Israeli power have long known exactly what was happening.

By Sondoss Al Asaad 

Israel’s multi-front war on Lebanese lives, health, and economic survival

BEIRUT — Lebanon has been moving through one of its most sensitive moments in recent months, where military diplomacy, Israeli escalation, and internal fragility intersect dangerously. 

By Wesam Bahrani 

U.S. opposition to al-Maliki: Political and economic pressure on Iraq

TEHRAN – President Donald Trump’s warning to withhold U.S. support if Nouri al-Maliki returns as Iraq’s prime minister goes beyond personal criticism.

By Sondoss Al Asaad

Women as currency: Epstein files and the moral fraud of the Western order

BEIRUT — The renewed release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein has been framed in Western corporate media as a triumph of transparency and accountability.

The choreography of cruelty: Rafah's ‘trial’ reopening and the performance of siege

TEHRAN – The Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt reopened on Sunday “on a trial basis” after being nearly completely sealed for more than two years under the Israeli blockade. The limited reopening, announced by Israeli authorities, underscores the ongoing control Israel exercises over Palestinian life, even amid a so-called ceasefire.

Trump’s tower of deceit: Epstein’s files pull back the curtain

Over three million pages of DOJ files fuel critical allegations, placing the U.S. president at the heart of Epstein's elite sex scandal network

TEHRAN – The newest release of the Epstein files has once again pulled U.S. President Donald Trump, along with a long list of powerful figures, into the center of a story that refuses to fade. The U.S. Department of Justice — the federal agency responsible for enforcing the law and overseeing the FBI — published more than three million pages of documents, along with thousands of images and videos, on Friday. What emerged is a portrait of Epstein’s world that is both familiar and newly disturbing: a network of wealth, secrecy, and influence that stretched across politics, entertainment, business, and even intelligence circles.

By Wesam Bahrani 

Rafah border crossing: What the reopening reveals about Israel’s next moves

TEHRAN – The scheduled opening of the Rafah border crossing on Sunday is another sign of the Israeli regime’s larger scheme. 

By Sondoss Al Asaad 

How is Washington’s oil-first strategy redrawing Libya’s geopolitical map?

BEIRUT — The recent visits of Massad Boulos, adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump for the Middle East and African affairs, to Tripoli and Benghazi have ignited intense debate inside Libya.

By Shahrokh Saei 

China leads the agenda: Xi–Starmer talks highlight the limits of US unilateralism

TEHRAN — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to China has highlighted a broader shift in global diplomacy, showcasing the contrast between nations willing to engage Beijing and the unilateral approach pursued by US President Donald Trump. 

By Wesam Bahrani 

Trump’s threats against Iraq could backfire

TEHRAN – The U.S. president’s aggressive rhetoric about Iraq’s political future may ultimately produce the opposite of its intended effect.

By Sondoss Al Asaad 

Lebanon’s 2026 budget: A state between social anger, political confusion, and regional fire

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Parliament has approved the 2026 state budget by 59 votes in favor, 34 against, and 11 abstentions, closing three turbulent days of debate that exposed far more than fiscal disagreements. 

By staff writer

Israel’s admission of Gaza death toll shatters its own denial

TEHRAN — A quiet admission from a senior Israeli military official has opened a door Israel has tried to keep shut for two years. By acknowledging that around 71,000 people have been killed in Gaza, the official effectively confirmed what the Gaza Health Ministry has been reporting since the start of the war.

By Wesam Bahrani 

Israel's Rafah closure is a death sentence for Gaza's patients

TEHRAN – Israel's continued closure of the Rafah crossing amounts to a death sentence for thousands of Palestinian patients and wounded trapped in the Gaza Strip.

By Sondoss Al Asaad 

Lebanon’s paradox: An unfinished state and a necessary resistance

BEIRUT — The central challenge facing Lebanon today is often misrepresented as a confrontation between the “state” and the “Resistance.” In reality, it is a struggle between a state that has yet to be fully realized and a defensive necessity imposed by persistent danger.

By staff writer 

A truce in words only: Israel keeps bombing Gaza

TEHRAN – Israel’s killing of two Palestinians in Gaza City’s al-Tuffah neighborhood on Tuesday reflects a familiar pattern. Israel is once again violating the October truce it claims to uphold. On paper, the ceasefire exists. On the ground, Israeli gunfire, airstrikes, and shelling continue. 

By Wesam Bahrani 

U.S. interference in Iraqi politics 

TEHRAN – Iraq stands at a critical point as parliament prepares to elect a new president and form the next government. 

By Sondoss Al Asaad 

Lebanon: Rising pressures amid Syria’s instability and Israeli threats

BEIRUT — With the Israeli enemy maintaining continuous attacks from the south and the resurgence of ISIS and other extremist groups in Syria, Lebanon faces unprecedented security challenges. 

By Ranjan Solomon

Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza and the monetization of ruins

GOA — Gaza today is not emerging from conflict; it is still being crushed by its consequences. Entire neighbourhoods have been erased, civilians displaced en masse, famine conditions allowed to fester, and allegations of international crimes hang unresolved over the ruins. Any serious discussion of Gaza’s future would begin with a ceasefire, accountability, and the restoration of Palestinian political agency. Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” begins elsewhere. It begins with money, authority, and control.