By Sondoss Al Asaad

From Oracle to Starlink: Lebanon’s security sovereignty in the wind

BEIRUT — Lebanon has always lived in the crossfire of regional conflicts, but rarely has its digital sovereignty been placed so casually on the negotiating table.

By Shahrokh Saei

Is Israel’s mirage of victory in Gaza fading?

TEHRAN – More than two years after Israel launched its war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, the outcome is undeniable: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to “destroy Hamas” has failed. 

By Sondoss Al Asaad

Lebanon faces a choice between real power and foreign illusions

BEIRUT—Lebanon’s political and security landscape has long been defined by a paradox: the nation’s true defenders often operate outside formal institutions, while the official state struggles to assert authority, maintain sovereignty, or protect its people.

By Shahrokh Saei

Syria one year after Assad: Jolani’s makeover, minority panic, and Israeli strikes

TEHRAN – On December 8, 2024, Syria entered a new phase when Damascus fell, and the Ba'ath Party’s long rule ended. Bashar al-Assad departed for Russia, where he was granted asylum. For many Syrians, Assad’s exit was neither a moment of triumph nor defeat, but the beginning of a new uncertainty. The vacuum left behind opened the door for forces both domestic and foreign to shape Syria’s trajectory.

By staff writer

Merz’s appeasement of Netanyahu will only embolden war criminals

TEHRAN - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited Israel for the first time since taking office in May. Merz’s visit comes just days after Germany decided to lift a three-month suspension on arms exports to Israel.

By Sondoss Al Asaad

Lebanon’s neutrality debate in a shifting regional context

BEIRUT — Let’s try, for a moment, to imagine a Lebanon where words mean what they say. In that alternate universe, “neutrality” would imply rejecting foreign meddling of any kind, “interference” would refer to bombing residential areas, and “sovereignty” might include the radical notion of objecting to drones overhead.

By staff writer

Caribbean chessboard: U.S. move to check Russia and China

Is the U.S. effort to overthrow Maduro limited to Venezuela?

TEHRAN – When U.S. forces began striking vessels in the Caribbean in early September, Washington said it was fighting drug cartels. Yet almost 90 people have been killed, no narcotics have been shown as evidence, and the scale of deployment, including the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group, makes clear this is not a routine mission.

By Shahrokh Saei 

A thousand cuts: Israel’s hybrid war tactics in the Persian Gulf

TEHRAN – In the Persian Gulf, the islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and Lesser Tunb have long stood as enduring symbols of Iran’s sovereignty. The renewed mention of the islands in the final communique of a Persian Gulf Arab summit in Bahrain was not a mere diplomatic formality, but part of a broader geopolitical maneuver. The statement, which condemned what it called Iran’s “continued occupation” of the islands, was swiftly rejected by Tehran.

By Sondoss Al Asaad

LF outsourcing patriotism to the occupiers: See how it ended in Afghanistan

BEIRUT—No contradiction in Lebanese politics is more glaring than the desire of the Lebanese Forces (LF) to see the Israeli enemy resolve their political dispute inside Lebanon. A party that claims to defend state sovereignty routinely seeks foreign intervention against a Lebanese actor with a proven popular and national base.

By Wesam Bahrani 

Israel shifts focus from crises with Gaza aggression 

TEHRAN – In continued violations of the truce agreement in the Gaza Strip, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) carry out new strikes east of Gaza City and Khan Younis.

By Wesam Bahrani 

Israel utterly failed to shield its protégé in Gaza

TEHRAN – The occupying Israeli regime suffered a setback after its most prominent militia leader was killed in Gaza. 

By Sondoss Al Asaad 

Lebanon’s art of giving everything away for free

BEIRUT — For decades, Lebanon’s leaders have embraced a peculiar diplomatic approach: yield concession after concession, gain nothing in return, and feign surprise as the nation’s leverage steadily disappears.

By staff writer 

The mirage of peace: Gaza under fire

TEHRAN – It has been more than 50 days since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect, intended to end the Gaza war. For Palestinians, however, that promise has meant nothing. The Israeli bombardment has continued unabated, and the humanitarian crisis has only deepened.

By Wesam Bahrani 

Global rebuke of Israeli occupation 

TEHRAN – The United Nations overwhelmingly condemns the ongoing Israeli occupation of Arab lands amid opposition by the U.S. and a few of its allies.

By Sondoss Al Asaad 

Naqoura talks: Trojan Horse of economic and political normalization

BEIRUT—The Lebanese government’s decision to appoint former ambassador Simon Karam, a civilian with openly political positions, to lead the Lebanese delegation in the so-called Military Technical Committee meetings in Naqoura is not a procedural adjustment. Rather, it is a political landmine.

By staff writer 

Venezuelan voices vs. America’s cannons

TEHRAN – Venezuelans took to the streets in Caracas and other cities this week to protest escalating U.S. military pressure. The demonstrations follow the continued presence of the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group in the Caribbean and thousands of U.S. troops in the region. The U.S. has also carried out more than 20 strikes on maritime targets in the Caribbean and Pacific since early September, killing over 80 people, actions that Caracas says go beyond anti-drug operations and threaten Venezuelan sovereignty.

By Sondoss Al Asaad

Sanctified semantics: Lebanon’s risky drift into the ‘Abrahamic’ politics

BEIRUT—President Joseph Aoun’s description of Lebanon as a place where “all the Children of Abraham can meet” was portrayed as a gesture of coexistence during his address to Pope Leo XIV.

By staff writer 

From accord to atrocity: Gaza human cost mounts under broken truce 

TEHRAN – The U.S.-brokered ceasefire that went into effect on October 10 was designed to end two years of relentless Israeli military operations in Gaza. Yet, less than two months later, it has proven to be little more than a paper promise. 

By Nabil Mansour

Could the Pope’s Lebanon visit temper Israeli threats and mend political divisions?

BEIRUT - Pope Leo XIV’s arrival in Beirut—his first foreign trip since ascending the papacy—comes at a moment when Lebanon is poised between escalating Israeli threats and a political class locked in chronic division. 

By Wesam Bahrani 

West Bank raids deepen as annexation calls rise

TEHRAN – The Israeli regime is escalating its raids in the West Bank amid rising calls to formally annex the occupied territories.

By Shahrokh Saei 

Law above the clouds: Caracas counters Washington’s illegal threats

TEHRAN – Venezuela has forcefully rejected recent threats from President Donald Trump to treat its skies as closed, arguing the United States has no legal authority to impose restrictions on another nation’s airspace. Officials in Caracas insist that the move is not only illegitimate but also a direct challenge to the principles of international law.

By Sondoss Al Asaad

Lebanon’s war anxiety: Between genuine peril and manufactured panic

BEIRUT- Lebanese society has long been marked by debates, disagreements, and deep ideological fault lines. Division is not a uniquely Lebanese pathology but a universal human reflex—dating back, as Rousseau suggested, to the moment the first man staked a claim and declared, “This is mine.”

By Wesam Bahrani 

Gaza’s death toll hits grim milestone of 70,000

TEHRAN – More than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed as the occupying Israeli regime’s genocidal assault on Gaza continues with no end in sight.

By Wesam Bahrani 

“Ceasefire” masks ongoing Israeli aggression 

TEHRAN – Despite the October 11 truce, the occupying Israeli regime continues expanding its military presence and attacks across Gaza, worsening Palestinian suffering.

By Sondoss Al Asaad

Will south Syria replicate south Lebanon’s experience?

BEIRUT — The dramatic events that shook Beit Jinn Friday at dawn have revived a question long whispered in regional security circles: Is south Syria on the cusp of developing its own south Lebanon–style Resistance model? 

By staff writer 

Israel’s brutality on display: From Jenin to UN torture warnings

TEHRAN – The execution-style killing of two unarmed Palestinian men in Jenin — shot at point-blank range after they surrendered with their hands raised — has triggered international outrage and renewed scrutiny of Israel’s entrenched culture of impunity. For Palestinians, however, the atrocity is tragically familiar, another chapter in a long narrative of unchecked state violence.

By Wesam Bahrani 

Israeli troops injured amid deadly aggression on Syria

At least 10 Syrian civilians are killed

TEHRAN – Hebrew media reports that 13 Israeli troops have been injured in Syria after locals resisted another invasion.