By Somaye Morovati

Strategic significance of Bin Zayed’s visit to Pakistan

TEHRAN - The official visit of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on December 26, 2025, may at first glance be interpreted as a ceremonial bilateral engagement between two countries bound by longstanding and “brotherly” relations.

By Shahrokh Saei 

Israel’s recognition of Somaliland: Power play or Gaza expulsion plot?

TEHRAN – Israel’s recognition of Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland has triggered fierce backlash across Africa, the Arab world, and beyond. At the same time, the move has brought Israel’s underlying motives into sharper focus, raising questions about regional security, international law, and the fate of Palestinians in Gaza.

By Sondoss Al Asaad

Gradual erosion of Christian presence in post-war Syria

BEIRUT—In the aftermath of Syria’s prolonged conflict, the question facing the country’s Christian communities is no longer one of political alignment, but of survival itself. 

By Sondoss Al Asaad 

Kidnapping of Lebanese officer: Growing suspicions and unanswered questions

BEIRUT — Political and media discourse surrounding the abduction of former General Security officer Ahmad Shukr has intensified claims that he was forcibly taken into the occupied Palestinian territories.

By staff writer 

Syria under the weight of Israel’s occupation

TEHRAN – Israel continues its military strikes in southern Syria nearly a year after the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad and the rise of Western-backed interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani.

By Shahrokh Saei

Trump’s Nigeria attack: Evangelical politics weaponized against reality

TEHRAN – The United States carried out strikes in northwestern Nigeria on Christmas Day, nearly two months after President Donald Trump warned he might intervene militarily, accusing the West African nation of failing to stop attacks against Christian communities.

By Wesam Bahrani 

Gaza truce turns to strategic impasse

TEHRAN – The resistance in Gaza is fighting a battle guided by a logic of achievable deterrence. 

By Sondoss Al Asaad

Implications for Yemen’s prisoner exchange

BEIRUT—A historic breakthrough has emerged in Yemen’s humanitarian landscape with the signing of an agreement to release 1,700 prisoners from the army and popular committees in exchange for 1,200 detainees from the opposite side, including seven Saudis and 23 Sudanese.

By Shahrokh Saei 

Greenland: Trump’s empire dream in the Arctic

TEHRAN – Diplomatic tensions between Europe and the United States have flared once again, this time over President Donald Trump’s renewed desire to take over Greenland, the semi-autonomous Danish territory. His words— “We must have it”—echo less like policy and more like possession, as though the Arctic island were a prize to be claimed rather than a people with rights and sovereignty.

By Wesam Bahrani 

The fragility of Israeli security 

TEHRAN – The reality of the Israeli regime’s security doctrine is that it has long remained fragile and vulnerable.

By staff writer 

A ceasefire that bleeds: Gaza war repackaged as peace

TEHRAN – The October 10 ceasefire in Gaza was sold to the world to signal that Israel’s war on the Palestinian enclave had finally stopped. In reality, it may be one of the most effective political tools yet devised to keep the machinery of destruction running while convincing the international community that peace has arrived. 

By Sondoss Al Asaad 

Lebanon’s phantom prince: A political scandal beyond ordinary fraud

How a fraudulent Saudi envoy swindled Lebanon’s elite

BEIRUT—Lebanon is no stranger to political scandal, but few incidents rival the intrigue of the case now known locally as the “Phantom Saudi Prince” affair. 

By Wesam Bahrani 

‘Project Sunrise’: Trump’s vision for Gaza

TEHRAN – The U.S. administration revives its dangerous vision of transforming Gaza into a “Middle East Riviera,” sidelining the Palestinians once more. 

By Sondoss Al Asaad 

Israel’s role in fragmenting Yemen: Geopolitics, proxies, and strategic waterways

BEIRUT—The war on Yemen has never been merely an internal conflict. From its earliest stages, it has been shaped by regional and international actors seeking to redraw the country’s political and geographic map. 

By Shahrokh Saei 

Fractured fortress: Israel crumbling from within

TEHRAN – Israel often presents itself as a regional fortress, with its military active from Gaza to Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, and in confrontations linked to Iran. From the outside, it seems untouchable, disciplined, and in control. But a closer look reveals that the walls are cracking. Every strike, every campaign is like a hammer blow against the world, yet the same blows reverberate inside, shaking Israel itself. The more Israel relies on force, the more the foundations beneath it weaken.

By Wesam Bahrani 

Disarmament in Gaza: ‘Day after’ pressure

TEHRAN – Gaza appears to be entering a difficult testing phase, the outcome of which will depend on the Palestinians’ ability to forge a unified national position.

By Sondoss Al Asaad

Hezbollah in focus: Strategic goals behind Imad Amhaz video

Following the release of an investigative report in Israel Hayom  titled “The Secret Maritime File,” Israel publishes a video featuring Imad Amhaz

BEIRUT— The recent release of a video featuring Lebanese national Imad Amhaz—more than a year after his detention—signals a carefully calculated media and political maneuver by Tel Aviv.

By Wesam Bahrani 

Sydney attack: Israel’s balance of gains and losses

TEHRAN – Israeli media’s interpretation of the terrorist attack in Sydney is marked by contradiction and confusion. 

By Sondoss Al Asaad 

Lebanese parliament pushes back, breaks boycott

BEIRUT—On Thursday, Lebanon’s parliament sent a decisive signal: political blackmail no longer guarantees paralysis.

By staff writer

Proxy theater in the Persian Gulf: Israel scripts, UAE performs

TEHRAN – Israel’s war on Gaza has been marked by mass civilian deaths, starvation tactics, and the destruction of homes, hospitals, and refugee camps. At a time when international courts and human rights groups are demanding accountability, the United Arab Emirates has not stepped back. It has stepped in.

By Sondoss Al Asaad

Washington’s squeeze on Lebanese Army: Redefining doctrine, loyalty, and identity

BEIRUT—Over the past months, the Lebanese Army has found itself at the center of an escalating campaign of political, security, and ideological pressure led by Washington in close coordination with Israel. 

By staff writer 

From sanctions to blockade: Trump’s naval coercion of Venezuela

TEHRAN – U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to order a “total and complete” blockade of sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers marks one of the most dangerous escalations in Washington–Caracas relations. While the Trump administration presents the move as a sanctions enforcement action, the reality is far more serious: the use of military force to control another country’s trade, outside international law and without global consent.

By Wesam Bahrani 

The imposed ‘peace’ on Gaza

Gaza won’t become part of an American project or a lifeline for failed politicians or dealmakers 

TEHRAN – Nothing has been more dangerous for Gaza over the past two years than the bombs and missiles that have fallen on it.

By Wesam Bahrani 

Behind the Israeli assassination of Raed Saad 

TEHRAN – The Israeli regime assassinated the second-in-command of the al-Qassam Brigades on December 13. What is the regime's objective?