A long-running dispute between Israel and Lebanon over a maritime border in the Mediterranean Sea has reached boiling point as both sides want to secure multibillion-dollar energy investments from the oil and gas rich area. Lebanese politicians have reacted with anger over a bill in the Israeli parliament that would seek to establish the country’s…
The Syrian government has announced that it will retaliate should Israel continue to conduct airstrikes on Syrian territory. Any further airstrikes on Syrian territory will be met with deadly force and retaliation strikes deep within Israeli soil, they said. According to the message, delivered via Russian mediators, attacks on Syrian military objects will be met with Scud missiles launched at Israeli military (IDF)…
The situation escalates in southern Lebanon as Hezbollah and Israel step up the already harsh rhetorics against each other. On February 16, pro-Hezbollah media released a video showing a list of Israeli targets which could be destroyed in case of a new war. The list included 9 targets: The Negev Nuclear Research Center (a nuclear instalation located in…
Marine Le Pen has been doing a little Trumping in Beirut. Yes, all the way from Paris she came to ride her French presidential election campaign through the sectarian thickets of Lebanon by refusing to wear a veil to meet the Sunni Muslim Grand Mufti. Given the nonsense she spoke to the (Christian) president of…
The year 2016 was not a good one for Saudi Arabia. Sharply lower oil prices sparked a domestic financial crisis that is forcing the country to restructure its economy. Saudi Arabia’s bitter struggle with Iran for regional hegemony has embroiled it in wars and political conflicts it has been unable to win, leaving it no…
It began on September 16, 1982, thirty-four years ago today. The Phalange, an Israeli-backed militia, entered the Palestinian refugee camp of Shatila and neighboring Sabra, engaging in an orgy of torturing and killing that lasted several days. It is estimated that 3000 people died in this massacre, which has become one of the enduring symbols…
