Category: Middle East
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The UN has warned of an alarming surge of violence in Lebanon as Israeli attacks intensify. A truce nobody has declared over, families displaced for the second time, and what a UN warning actually accomplishes.
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Oil from the grounded tanker is now on Omani beaches. Why shoreline oil is harder than oil at sea, why aggressive cleaning can cause more damage than the spill, and what decides whether anyone ever pays for it.
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Iran and Oman are reported to be close to a deal on managing the Strait of Hormuz. Why the mediator is Oman, what “managing” could actually mean, and why one version of the deal would matter at every strait in the world.
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The US–Iran ceasefire expired on Monday with no extension. Trump called for Iran’s surrender and threatened Oman, the mediator; Tehran signalled a shift to a fully offensive posture. What actually lapsed, and what to watch instead of the rhetoric.
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Houthi strikes killed at least eleven in the Yemeni port city of Mokha on Sunday, and an earlier drone salvo hit a Saudi refinery. Both targets are messages to the new Saudi-led maritime coalition.
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Seven to ten million Coptic Christians live in Egypt — the largest Christian community in the Middle East and one of the oldest anywhere. Where they come from, what makes them theologically distinct, and why coverage in English skips them.
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The phrase gets used every week without much explanation. What a “shadow fleet” actually is, the five workarounds that make it work, and why breaking it is harder than seizing individual ships.
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Newly released Epstein files expose years of disturbing correspondence with one of Dubai’s most powerful businessmen, alongside efforts to gain access to senior members of the UAE royal establishment. The latest release of Jeffrey Epstein files has drawn fresh scrutiny to his connections in the United Arab Emirates, revealing a disturbing combination of sexually explicit…
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A year after the ICJ found Israel’s occupation unlawful and ordered its rapid end, settlement construction has continued and settler violence risen. What the opinion did and didn’t change — and what international courts can actually do.
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Four thousand sheep and goats drowned off Oman in June. Australia is phasing out live export, the UK partly banned it in 2024, Germany stopped issuing the certificates. The EU says its own law doesn’t allow it to stop.