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

Pope Francis dismisses uncertainty over upcoming Iraq trip

Francis' visit to the country next month will mark the first time a pope has visited Iraq.

Pope Francis, Shiite leader al-Sistani to meet in historic Iraq trip

Francis and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani are scheduled to meet in the Iraqi city of Najaf during the first papal visit to the country.

Biden ends Trump’s ban on travel from Muslim-majority countries

Immigration advocates hailed Biden's decision, but said undoing the effects of the travel ban won’t happen overnight.

Nubian girls play outside their home in the village of Abu Simbel in Egypt's far south, over 1100 kilometres south of the capital Cairo and near the border with Sudan, on February 4, 2020. - The Nubian language, according to locals, is unpractised by many in the generation born decades after their mass eviction from their ancestral lands to make way for the construction of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile in the 1960s. Built under Egypt's late president Gamal Abdel Nasser, the colossal project aimed to harnes

Egypt’s Nubians get second chance at requesting compensation

On the occasion of the anniversary of laying the foundation stone of the Aswan dam, the Egyptian state opened the door to the second phase of the compensation paid for the Nubians who were displaced from their lands.

Coptic Orthodox worshippers attend Christmas Eve mass at the Nativity of Christ Cathedral in Egypt's administrative capital, 45 kms east of Cairo, on January 6, 2020. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Acquittal in assault of Christian woman casts pall over Christmas for Egypt's Coptic community

The acquittal by a Minya court of three defendants who in May 2016 stripped an elderly Christian woman naked and dragged her through the streets of her village has provoked outrage among Christians and rights groups.

Palestinian Orthodox Christians attend a Christmas Mass at the Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City on January 7, 2020. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)

Christians in Gaza celebrate gloomy Christmas this year

Christians in the Gaza Strip will be celebrating Christmas at home this year in light of the lockdown and travel restrictions imposed to stem the skyrocketing number of coronavirus cases.

Iran's Christians face renewed fears ahead of Christmas

The case of Dabrina Bet Tamraz and her parents highlights a string of crackdowns against Evangelical and Protestant Christians across the country that have forced many to flee.

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - DECEMBER 03: Newly arrived Jewish Ethiopian immigrants walk on a red carpet upon landing in Israel on a special flight from Ethiopia on December 3, 2020 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Several hundred members of the Falash Mura community of Ethiopian Jews arrived in Israel as part of ongoing relocation initiative. Ethiopian Israeli activists are pressing the Israeli government to admit more Ethiopian Jews to resettle there, to escape persecution at home. Israel generally recognizes the Falash Mura a

After years of waiting, Ethiopian Jews arrive to Israel

One hundred Ethiopian Jews are set to arrive to Israel today, as part of Operation Rock of Israel that was launched yesterday, to bring home 2,000 members of the community.

Intel: US blames ‘scheduling issue’ for no Pompeo-Erdogan meeting

A State Department official said Pompeo's "tight schedule" will keep him from meeting Turkish officials when in Istanbul next week.

Egyptian, Iranian leaders criticize French president over comments on freedom of expression

French President Emmanuel Macron angered many Muslim leaders when he defended images of the prophet of Islam after a Parisian teacher was beheaded for showing such images.

In New York Jewish communities, similarities to Israel's virus struggle

Israeli media are covering the conflict over coronavirus measures in New York's Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, and the issue bears resemblance to Israel's virus situation.

Baghdad, Erbil reach security, administrative agreement on Sinjar district

The deal will address major security and structural obstacles, but local communities criticize the accord for failing to bring their people to the table.