Lebanon held on Sunday its first parliamentary elections in nine years, as citizens expressed cautious optimism that the country's rigid, oft-deadlocked sectarian political system could be swayed. Behind the scenes, however, one of the world's leading powers has quietly eyed the small state as...

(Zaman Al Wasl)-Even though 15 years have passed since the invasion of Iraq, the picture of the former Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair is still haunting many as the biggest engineer, warmonger, and influencer of that invasion.  Today, Blair’s name is trending again as the...

As thousands of Syrians flee their homes in Eastern Ghouta to escape a fierce air and ground offensive led by pro-government forces, President Bashar al-Assad has introduced a new law which can potentially see the state confiscating the lands of millions of displaced people. Law Number...

 By Hassan Hassan , Michael Weiss (The Daily Beast)- “We’re knocking the hell out of ISIS. We’ll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now.” So spoke the president of the United States in Richfield, Ohio on Thursday at...

Perched on a green hilltop, Kurdish and Arab fighters face a tense front line separating them from Turkish-backed forces in this part of northern Syria. Behind them, American troops drive up and down the roads. Their aim: Make their presence known to prevent bursts of gunfire from spiraling...

(CNN)- If President Donald Trump makes good on his promise to get out of Syria "very soon," one of the biggest winners will be Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government. Although the Kremlin has tried to cast its involvement in Syria as primarily an air campaign, there...

This week, Saudi Arabia has seen an attack unprecedented since the first day of its military intervention in Yemen's war in March 2015. On Sunday evening, Seven missiles struck four different regions in the kingdom, including in Riyadh. It was the first time the Yemen war has directly...

As North Korea considers negotiating over its nukes, it may find lessons in the Middle East, where leaders imperiled, paranoid or pugnacious have long used the doomsday weapon threat to secure a wobbly perch. It is a delicate dance - and getting the balance wrong can end badly. Holding...

By Ali Eid No Syrian is free from bad memories. I still remember when my 8-year-old daughter came back from her school in Damascus 2010. She was sad and seemed offended by her teacher for not knowing who is the 'Immortal Leader', such a new term pushed her to ask ‘What does...

QAMISHLI (AFP)- Iraq and Syria’s Kurds have netted foreign militants by the thousands but while the former is expediting trials, the latter would rather send them home. A Baghdad court Monday sentenced French woman Melina Boughedir to seven months in prison, a term she had already served by the...

Saying there are "no words" to describe a horror is infuriating. But now not saying anything has become the new way to talk about the world's nastiest war. It is essentially the job of the United Nations to find the words -- to articulate the savagery being again unleashed on the people...

Almost anything is more interesting than the massacre of civilians in Syria. Just look at today’s front pages. The Guardian leads on the slaughter of unarmed residents in the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta, but for the rest it’s a mix of continuing scandals in international aid charities,...

Rome, Italy - Six and a half years into the ongoing bloodshed in Syria, General Issam Zahreddine, infamous for overseeing the suffocating three-year siege of Deir Az Zor, was killed by a landmine. He died in October 2017, when his vehicle hit an explosive in Hawija Saqr during the...

Saudi Arabia is debunking age-old stereotypes one theatrical move at a time. The significance of this remark will not be lost on those following the reforms taking place at large, primarily in Saudi but also in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region as a whole. In...

By  Yasser Ashkar The Assad regime had a dialogue with itself in Sochi. The event had more of a carnival atmosphere than that of a serious peace talks while the lives of civilians in Syria and the future of millions of Syrian refugees still hung in the balance.    There was also...

Last year in Yemen was harsh, tumultuous and violent. 2018 has brought both hopes of bringing peace and fears of deepening war. Yemenis face two options this year: the war could be bloodier and more inhumane than the previous twelve months - or it could be a window to fruitful peace talks...

On January 20, Turkey began to fulfill its many threats against the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in north-western Syria by launching Operation Olive Branch.  President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to remove the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) from the canton and has...

By Ethar Abdulhaq (Zaman Al Wasl)- As Afrin military operation continues to form a new scene in the north of Syria with the force of military action, the repercussions of this military process continue to affect the political level of the states and parties, even to militias structured...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Syrian economy has been exhausted and destructed for the past six years. It is characterized by the high inflation rate, budget deficit, poverty, unemployment, debt and reduced economic gross domestic product (GDP).  The situation does not appear as if it...

By Naser Ali (Zaman Al Wasl)- Under the title "Unarmed Combatants, Houses with Concerns and Expectations", an investigation tells the stories of the lives of a group of women of officers and militia mercenaries who have been neglected and blackmailed by state officials and institutions...