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.

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. 

Self-defense or slaughter: U.S. arms drive Israel’s Gaza carnage

TEHRAN – The United States has approved more than $6.6 billion in new arms sales to Israel even as Israeli forces continue to violate a Washington-brokered ceasefire announced in October last year. The State Department confirmed that Israel will receive 30 Apache attack helicopters and other U.S.-made military vehicles, despite the fact that these same systems have been repeatedly used against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

‘Horrific massacres against civilians’: Israel kills dozens of Palestinians in a single day

TEHRAN – Israeli warplanes launched a new wave of air raids across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing dozens of Palestinians in yet another blatant violation of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. 

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.

Hamas official rejects foreign diktats on Palestinian arms

A senior Hamas political bureau member sharply criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of obstructing the transition to the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement. The remarks came after Netanyahu reiterated that Israel would not permit Gaza’s reconstruction unless armed groups in the Strip disarm, and insisted that Israeli security control would continue in both Gaza and the West Bank.

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 Sheida Sabzehvari

Iran will not fight alone this time

From Baghdad to Beirut, Tehran’s partners signal a wider war if US strikes

TEHRAN – As U.S. naval deployments in the Persian Gulf intensify and Washington hints at the possibility of renewed aggression, a constellation of Iran’s allied forces across West Asia are issuing coordinated warnings that a second war against the country would ignite a region-wide confrontation — one that neither the United States nor Israel, they say, is prepared to contain.

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 staff writer 

The ceasefire illusion: Israel’s cover for calculated aggression in Lebanon

TEHRAN — Despite the ceasefire agreement signed with Israel in November 2024, the promised peace remains a distant hope for the people of Lebanon. Israel’s military has effectively transformed a signed truce into a period of controlled aggression, conducting near-daily strikes that have claimed hundreds of innocent lives.

Israel carries out another deadly attack in Lebanon in violation of 2024 ceasefire

TEHRAN – Israel’s airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon on Sunday once again exposed what many in Lebanon describe as the regime’s entrenched disregard for international law and ceasefire agreements. The Lebanese Health Ministry confirmed that one civilian was killed and several others wounded after an Israeli strike hit the area near Kfardounin in the Bint Jbeil District, a region that has endured repeated bombardment despite the 2024 ceasefire.

US, Israel hatched ‘false-flag killings’ plot to stir unrest in Iran: top MP

TEHRAN - A senior Iranian parliamentarian says the US and the Israeli regime were pursuing a policy of “false-flag killings” during the recent riots in Iran.

By Saleh Abidi Maleki 

No anxiety in Tehran as commanders declare readiness for war

Top officials express confidence that US aggression failed once—and will fail again, this time at a much heavier cost

TEHRAN – Iran’s top military officials looked relaxed and in high spirits as they gathered for an annual meeting marking National Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Day. Speaking to an IRIB reporter who managed to gain access to the gathering, the commanders commented on the growing prospects of another war with the United States with visible confidence.

By Wesam Bahrani 

What Palestinians endure in Gaza amid Israel’s continued demolition and siege

TEHRAN — Palestinians in Gaza are hoping for real changes that could ease their suffering and help them survive the harsh reality they face. 

By Sondoss Al Asaad 

The US and Lebanon’s trilateral trap

BEIRUT — The United States is intensifying pressure on Lebanon to abandon the existing military “mechanism” overseeing the southern front and move instead toward a Washington-sponsored trilateral committee that would pave the way for political-security arrangements with Israel.