Ethnic/Religious Minorities

A police speed boat patrols the port as oil tankers and high speed crafts sit anchored at Muscat Anchorage near the Strait of Hormuz on March 30, 2026 in Muscat, Oman.

Analysis

Hostage to Hormuz, can Gulf rewire future energy flows to bypass Iran’s chokepoint?

As the US-Israel-Iran war disrupts around 20% of global oil supply, experts point to opportunities and challenges facing a renewed push to develop alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

A Hezbollah flag is seen in a destroyed car after an Israeli airstrike in Nabi Chit (Al-Nabi Shayth), Lebanon, on March 26, 2026. In the first week of March, the Israeli army carried out an unsuccessful nighttime commando operation there to recover the remains of Ron Arad, a pilot missing since 1986, triggering airstrikes and destruction in the area that forced residents to flee their homes. (Photo by Fabio Bucciarelli / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Displacement and dissent: Hezbollah’s war with Israel splits Lebanon’s Shiites

The renewed Israel war against Hezbollah in Lebanon has divided the Shiite community, with some still backing the group as resistance against Israel’s expansionist vision and others refusing to pay the price of foreign conflicts.

Karim Safieddine

By Karim Safieddine

In Beirut, reporting on politics

Displaced families set up tents along Beirut's waterfront in Beirut, Lebanon, on March 10, 2026, after fleeing recent Israel-Hezbollah hostilities.

Lebanon scrambles to contain tensions over displacement as Israel ups threats

Displaced Shiites are facing growing resentment from host communities in areas outside of Hezbollah’s control in Lebanon amid uncertainty over their return to southern Lebanon, where Israeli attacks and advances signal a potential ground invasion.

Rabbi Daniel Walker and King Charles III view floral tributes during a visit to Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue on Oct. 20, 2025, in Manchester, England.

UK, Netherlands probe Iran links to plots targeting Jewish sites: What to know

British authorities said two men had spied on the Jewish community in London for Iran, and synagogues were recently targeted in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Latest News

Analysis

Turkey cautious but unfazed by US plan to mobilize Iranian Kurds against regime

A group of Peshmergas of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) walks during military training near one of their bases in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, on March 1, 2025.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Which 6 Kurdish groups could join the war in Iran?

A picture from the formation of the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan on Feb. 22, 2026.

Amid chatter of local uprisings, eyes turn to Iran's minorities: What to know

Osama Al Maqdoni / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

Syria begins prisoner exchange with Druze militia in south: What to know

Suwayda

Jewish cemetery Iran

Israelis long to reconnect with Arab, Islamic homelands

Many Israeli Jews with Middle Eastern origins remember a painful expulsion from their homelands and want to preserve and celebrate the history of those Jewish communities.

kanievsky

Ultra-Orthodox anti-vaxxers threaten leading Israeli rabbi

When the Grand Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky called on his followers to vaccinate children, vaccine opponents within the ultra-Orthodox community turned against him.

Kakais Najwa Hamid (KDP) and Ahlam Ramazan (PUK) were elected to Iraqi parliament in October 2021.

Kakai minority scores two seats in Iraqi parliament

After years of absence, two female candidates from the Kakai minority managed to reach the Iraqi parliament following the fifth Iraqi legislative elections held on Oct. 10 for the provinces of Ninevah and Kirkuk.

Lebanese arriving to Cyprus

Will Lebanon’s economic crunch stir demographic change?

The emigration of Lebanese, especially Christians, raises concerns in Lebanon in terms of the demographic change that it may lead to, in light of the economic crisis that the Lebanese have been experiencing for nearly two years.

Circassian

German video reignites Turkish Circassian controversy

Turkey’s Circassian groups have found themselves in the crosshairs of nationalist parties after complaining of assimilation.

An Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jew talks on a mobile phone as others pray during the Passover blessings.

Israeli ultra-Orthodox rabbis make case to keep 'kosher' mobile phones

A delegation of the most senior ultra-Orthodox rabbis met with Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel to express their concerns over his panned communication reform.

This picture shows the Mughrabi ramp, leading from the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound that includes the Dome of the Rock Mosque (background) in Jerusalem's Old City, on Sept. 10, 2021.

Western Wall rabbi in eye of storm

Progressive Jews believe Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz is preventing them from obtaining an egalitarian prayer space, but for the ultra-Orthodox, Rabinowitz is too much of a compromiser.

Amhara militiamen and villagers stand near a mass grave for victims killed in an alleged massacre in the village of Chenna in Ethiopia, on Sept. 14, 2021.

Egypt weighs impact of Ethiopia's civil war

The civil war further threatens Ethiopia as Tigray forces threaten to advance toward Abbis Ababa.

Netflix's "The Club."

Why was cosmopolitan Istanbul so threatening to Turkish identity?

A new Netflix series has kicked off conversations on long-hushed questions about Turkish identity.

"The Club," a Netflix series released on Nov. 5, looks at the turbulent past of the Jewish community in Turkey in the 1950s.

Netflix series awakens ghosts of past for Turkey's Jews

"The Club" explores the old wounds of Turkey’s minuscule Jewish community, from lost Ladino songs to the wealth stolen by a draconian 1942 tax.

Naftali Bennett, head of the Habayit Hayehudi party, the Jewish Home party, during a visit to the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, on Jan. 21, 2013 in Jerusalem, Israel.

Bennett in bind over prayer space by Western Wall

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett knows that in the current political constellation, he has little choice but to advance the outline for a Jewish prayer space by the Western Wall.

Ethiopian Jews

Israel agrees to allow entry of 5,000 Ethiopians with links to Judaism

Israel's National Security Council had initially opposed the proposal to bring in more Falash Mura.