Today, everyone is waiting for high-profile events in the Middle East related to the unprecedented confrontation between Israel and Iran. The primary source of the conflict, Gaza, and its offshoots, the Houthis in the Red Sea and the collapse of global shipping, have been pushed into the background. On closer inspection, Iran and Israel have more in common than they do differences. Both are regional outsiders, both are sectarian and ethnic. Both Tel Aviv and Tehran have built their national strategies on the contradictions of their neighbours and on hidden reserves…

Since October 7, 2023 it would appear a spontaneous chain of events is leading the Middle East deeper and deeper into conflict. From Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza to its strikes on Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and repeated strikes across Syria (including the recent strike on Iran’s embassy in Damascus)…

On its website the Israeli think tank The Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security has published an article by Udi Levy entitled “Is the United States really against HAMAS?”, which notes that “the United States’ inability to organize an effective campaign to counter Hamas funding, despite its declared intentions, is a sign of Washington’s loss of financial leverage.” Sanctions, once successfully applied against territorial organizations and individual states are no longer working…

The US has once again vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. It was introduced by Algeria, which demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, condemned all attacks on civilians and opposed the forced displacement of Palestinians. In the 15-member UNSC, the US alone vetoed it…

The US President, Joe Biden’s political future, hangs in the balance. Even though his physicians recently declared him fit, his supporters don’t see him fit enough. A recent poll done in the US shows that a majority of the people who voted for Biden in 2020 now believe that he is too old to be an effective president. This means that many of his voters are already in the advanced stages of thinking about shifting their voters towards Trump. But Biden’s age is not only the source of his worry…

Major General Yahya Rasul, spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces, condemned recent US strikes on Iraqi army and anti-terrorist group bases and facilities as “unacceptable” and a “blatant” violation of the country’s sovereignty. These military bases and facilities belong to the Iraqi armed forces and Iraqi anti-terrorist resistance groups from the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Units (Al-Hashd al-Shaabi) and Kata’ib Hezbollah. “In a clear effort to harm security and stability in Iraq, the United States has resumed its airstrikes against Iraqi military units of the army and popular…

The core objective of the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s latest visit – which is the fifth such visit since October 7 – to the Middle East is to rally support for a ceasefire plan. The previous four visits, also motivated by the same objective, were unable to bring any meaningful change in Israel’s war on Gaza which has so far killed more than 27 thousand people. The reason why previous US efforts and plans have not worked and the reason why this latest bid is unlikely to produce any immediate and meaningful results is the dual game Washington is playing in the crisis…

The ongoing military conflict between Hamas and Israel threatens to escalate regional tensions. It could trigger a more global catastrophe. It is widely acknowledged that the current war zone extends beyond the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken a hardline stance on the conflict with Hamas, advocating for their total destruction and the voluntary resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza. This position has drawn in other forces to the conflict. Militant anti-Israel and anti-Western activity by pro-Iranian groups is observed in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq…

The aggressive and selfish policy of the United States, the bloody massacre by Israel in the Gaza Strip are causing more and more rejection, condemnation and opposition among the peoples of the Middle East. Even leaders of states once friendly to Washington are now distancing themselves from American policy and pursuing foreign policy in their own interests. The former hegemon is slowly but steadily losing its position in the world. Perhaps most telling in this regard was the interview of Temel Karamollaoğlu, leader of the Felicity Party, with Iran’s leading newspaper, the Tehran Times…

An Iran-US war would be an ideal scenario for Israel. On the one hand, Israel is systematically killing and driving the Palestinians out of their homes, which is allowing it to impose the so-called one-state solution. In this context, if the US plunges into a war with Iran and can inflict a lot of military and economic damage on Israel’s biggest enemy state in the region, that is the best possible scenario for Israel’s future standing in this region. On the one hand, US military engagement in the ongoing war will increase, and on the other hand, a US war on Iran might limit…

When it comes to explaining this question, i.e., why the US is attacking the Houthis in the Red Sea, most mainstream western media gives a similar answer, i.e., the Houthis are part of Iran’s “axis of resistance”; the Houthis seek Israel’s destruction; the Houthis are a terrorist group seeking to bring Yemen under their exclusive control, etc. Almost every major western media outlet has singularly highlighted what they call is the central Houthi slogan: “Death to America, Death to Israel, curse the Jews and victory to Islam”…

It’s January 16, 2024, and an American container ship is burning in the Red Sea, hit by a Houthi missile. But this was no ordinary ship, and there was a good reason it was traversing what has become the most dangerous waterway on earth, particularly for American shipping.  This was a weapons carrier, loaded with newly designed “technical,” Toyota Tundra trucks, top of the line, modified for terrorism over the open desert…