Worldcrunch
Israel is keeping the Tehran regime and outside observers guessing on the scope and timing of its threatened strikes on Iranian territory. Some say it is seeking to win itself time to “finish up” in Lebanon and Gaza, others say a massive attack on Iran could help reorder the whole region.
Since the end of the 20th century, the idea has spread that there’s a fundamental link between energy prices and Moscow’s ability to carry out military aggression. After all, low energy prices were one of the factors behind the economic collapse of the USSR.
Never since it became the “great protector” of the Jewish state has the United States shown so much weakness towards Israel, as the Israeli prime minister stays one step ahead of his adversaries in a cunning maneuver to help Trump return to the White House.
Updated Oct. 14, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. Thirty years ago on this day, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. Why were Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in […]
Benjamin Netanyahu escaped the growing calls to stop the war in Gaza and bring the hostages back, by launching another war on Hezbollah. It’s a taste of what’s to come.
Initially presented as “limited,” Israeli operations have escalated sharply in Lebanon, and the Israeli Prime Minister has called on the country’s citizens to rise up against Hezbollah. What is Benjamin Netanyahu’s aim in this war?
Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei vowed on Friday that the country’s regional allies would “not back down” against Israel. Yet neither criticism of Tehran has been growing among Hezbollah supporters since the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah.
Arab countries remain largely missing in action as the region goes up in flames. Those that have recognized Israel are keeping a low profile, the Saudis are talking about a Palestinian state, but they are not averse to crushing the pro-Iranian forces and targeting Tehran. And yet a regional war would upset the current balance.
October 7 – October 13, 2024
Was it the “Mother of Miscalculations?” Tehran’s decision to launch a second missile attack on Israel demonstrates its weakness at home and abroad. The Iranian regime may soon face the consequences, as a possible series of events could be triggered by a reprisal from the better-equipped Israeli military.
This year’s U.S. presidential candidates cannot ignore foreign policy issues, which are usually absent from the campaign; Ukraine and the Middle East are on the agenda. But while American voters will likely choose their next commander-in-chief based on domestic issues, the rest of the world will suffer the consequences.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid out a careful plot to push and ultimately shatter the long-established “rules of engagement” in the Middle East. It caught everyone, from Iran to Hezbollah to the White House, by surprise. The aim is to remake the whole region to revolve around Israel.
The defeat inflicted on Hezbollah and the weakening of the pro-Iranian axis has shifted the power balance toward Israel, which is continuing its offensive with a ground incursion into southern Lebanon, and dreams of building a “new Middle East.” But we’ve seen this playbook before.
The call in Lebanon to “postpone politics” is driven by a narration of the war as a religious, and not a political, event: that’s the root of Hezbollah’s ideology.
September 30 – October 6, 2024
The latest developments in the Middle East are part of longer-term shifts that are pushing to U.S. into a tougher stance in the region.
![Close-up photo of a Hezbollah supporter sporting a headband that reads in Arabic and Hebrew "We swear we will cross [into Israel]" during a rally in Beirut.](https://worldcrunch.com/assets/uploads/2025/03/close-up-photo-of-a-hezbollah-supporter-sporting-a-headband-that-reads-in-arabic-and-hebrew-we-swear-we-will-cross-into-israel-during-a-rally-in-beirut-1568x1176.jpg)
We have entered a new phase of confrontation. The war on the northern front has become a reality and not just threats. Hezbollah may be reeling after the pagers attack and the bombings in southern Lebanon, but it is also set to go on the offensive, taking aim at Israel’s northern coastal city of Haifa.
The upsurge in violence between Israel and Hezbollah in recent days carries the risk of regional conflagration that the United States does not want. But once again, for almost a year now, the Americans have been unable to get their Israeli ally to listen.
September 23 – September 29, 2024
With its unprecedented attacks on pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon that again killed innocent victims, Israel now faces the risk of losing the war not just on moral and legal grounds, but also from a strategic perspective.
The UN Security Council is paralyzed by the major powers, and the General Assembly, which opens today, has no binding power. At a time when conflicts are multiplying around the world, how can global governance be saved? Is it time to scrap the UN and start over?
Residents of southern Lebanon believe that their hometowns will remain an open arena for a long-term war between Israel and Hezbollah, even if this has only happened so far in a way that allows both sides to stop short of declaring an all-out war.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants are in limbo in Tunisia, which has in recent years become a major transit point for migrants fleeing conflicts and poverty in Africa and the Middle East for better lives in Europe. Women in particular lack basic rights, including sexual and reproductive health services.
Climate change has become an inevitable issue in the Middle East and North Africa — which may soon experience 200 days of extreme heat annually — and with those changes come questions of environmental justice.
Many people, especially in the Arab region, hailed the Houthis’ attacks against Israel. But what they may not know is that Yemeni people have been caught in the crossfire.
Almost 10 months after the Oct. 7 attack, the Middle East appears to be on the verge of a second act of tragedy. This new escalation of the conflict could result in regional war on a massive scale.
Updated August 2, 2024 at 12:00 p.m. Iraq invaded Kuwait on this day in 1990. This surprise invasion marked the beginning of a major international conflict and set the stage for the Gulf War. What were the reasons behind Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait? One key factor was Iraq’s desire to control Kuwait’s vast oil reserves, as Iraq was struggling with significant debt from the Iran-Iraq War. Additionally, territorial disputes, economic grievances, and claims of Kuwaiti overproduction of oil were cited by Iraq as reasons for the invasion. What were the major events of the Gulf War? Significant events included the […]
Hamas reported that its leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Iran, most likely by Israel, drawing fears of wider escalation in this region already shaken by the war in Gaza and on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
A confounding alliance between leftists, wokism and Islamic fanatics is the perfect smokescreen for an insidious enemy targeting the West’s liberal values. It’s happened before.
Violence and denunciation won’t beat political Islam. Its deconstruction must be through reasoned criticism, the methods of modern science and allowing space for religion to have its influence.
In matters of foreign policy, whether the war in Ukraine or in Gaza, the rejection of extremes should appear as an obvious fact of reason and ethics. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Updated June 10, 2024 at 12:40 p.m. On this day in 1967, the Six-Day War ended, as Israel faced off against its Arab neighbors, including Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. How did the Six-Day War end? The Six-Day War ended with Israel achieving a decisive victory. Israel successfully captured and occupied territories from Egypt (Sinai Peninsula […]
This week, 360 million voters across the EU will elect 720 Members of the European Parliament. Nationalist and far-right forces are expected to gain ground. At stake is the Europe’s ability to implement its security and competitiveness agenda over the next five years.
From Ukraine to the South China Sea, images of war are highly reminiscent of the horrors of the past. As the world marks 80 years since the Normandy landings of World War II, geopolitical analyst Dominique Moïsi wonders if history is bound to repeat itself.
U.S. President Joe Biden is pushing Saudi Arabia and Israel to sign on to a broad “normalization” deal, which would be a landmark of his first term in the White House. But Israel’s Netanyahu and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman each have their own calculations standing in the way.
The death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash comes in an already tense context, five weeks after Iran’s confrontation with Israel. The consequences are heavy, both in terms of regional and domestic conflicts.
The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has created an unprecedented crisis for moderate Arab countries, mainly for those who have ties with Israel, and for Saudi Arabia that was on the verge of reaching a normalization deal with Israel. It’s hard to envision a future for Gaza without them.
While the Palestinian cause is important for Iran and the Arab militias it backs, the return of this issue to the forefront may not benefit the resistance camp. And its tactic of strategic patience may not produce the intended results.
The context and scale are different, but there are common methods in the suppression of demonstrations in the Arab Spring in 2011 and crackdowns against pro-Palestinian groups on university campuses in the U.S. Will President Biden, like Hosni Mubarak 13 years ago, lose power as a result?
There have been countless graphic images circulating of the brutal Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the seven months of bloody retribution on the people of Gaza. Yet an image where you can’t see the victim has been recognized as the Photo of the Year.