If we confine our choices to leaders with broad appeal in the Arab and Islamist mainstream — excluding both al-Qaida and Kurdish leaders — we get the following five, listed in order. Hassan Abboud 1. Hassan Abboud,  the general...

Israel is ready to act alone to stop Iran making a nuclear bomb, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, in a warning against rushing into deals with Tehran's new leaders. "Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand...

Not every report to emerge from Syria is bad news for Bashar al-Assad. Yes, the world's jihadists may be  flying  from Accrington to Aleppo to fillet his soldiers with bullets. But it turns out Bashar has violent friends in far-off places, too. Since the conflict began in 2011,...

    French authorities opened a preliminary probe Monday into the assets of Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Activist groups allege the elder Assad acquired vast wealth in France through corruption and embezzlement ....