Ethnic/Religious Minorities

Police vehicles are seen on a road after a shooting incident at Bondi Beach in Sydney on Dec. 14, 2025.

What we know about Ahmed al-Ahmed, bystander who wrestled attacker in Sydney shooting

The 43-year-old man, a father of two and the owner of a fruit shop in a Sydney suburb, was shot twice.

By Rosaleen Carroll

In Washington, DC, US, reporting on the Middle East

Iranian soldiers keep watch at a patrol post in Zabol, southeastern Iran, near the Afghan border, on Oct. 10, 2012.

Analysis

Militant merger in Iran’s Baluchistan signals new threat to Tehran

The group’s outreach to broader ethnic communities reflects a strategic bid for wider legitimacy and a role in the wider struggle against the Islamic Republic.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Head of Israel's Raam, Mansour Abbas, speaks at his campaign headquarters in the northern Israeli city of Tamra before national election polls close, on Nov. 1, 2022

Analysis

Stunt or recalibration? Israel's Raam to break with Muslim Brotherhood

Raam leader Mansour Abbas took a huge political risk this week, announcing the party will sever its ties with the Islamic Movement.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

rabbi

Culture

In first, Syria approves restoration of Jewish property, synagogues

The new organization is the latest sign of Damascus’ outreach to Syria's dwindled Jewish community.

Latest News

As Syria marks one year since Assad fall, some minorities skip celebrations

TOPSHOT - This aerial view shows people gathering to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the uprising against Syria's former president Bashar al-Assad for the first time since he was toppled in the Umayyad Square in the centre of Damascus on March 15, 2025. The rally in Damascus was the capital's first after years of repression under Assad, during which the square was the sole preserve of the ousted president's supporters. Activists called on people to hold similar demonstrations in the major cities of Homs

Pope Leo gets rock star's reception in Lebanon, drawing cheers, celebrations

Pope Leo XIV waves to a crowd of youths upon his arrival at the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerke, north of the capital Beirut, on December 1, 2025. Leo prayed for peace in Lebanon and the region on December 1 on day two of his trip to the multi-confessional country, with joyful Lebanese welcoming the pontiff at two famous pilgrimage sites. (Photo by Giuseppe CACACE / AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon celebrates Pope Leo’s visit as Israel escalates attacks

A giant billboard of Pope Leo XIV along the highway leading to Beirut's international airport, Nov. 20, 2025.

In first foreign visit, Pope Leo meets Erdogan, urges Turkey to uphold pluralism

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan greets Pope Leo XIV during a welcome ceremony at the Presidential Palace, Ankara, Nov. 27, 2025.

Erdogan converts another historic church into a mosque

The centuries-old Chora church, which has served as a museum since 1945, will soon be open to Muslim worship.

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - AUGUST 28: New Jewish immigrants walking down the airplane during a welcoming ceremony after arriving on a flight from Ethiopia, on August 28, 2013 at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, Israel. Over 400 Ethiopian Jews arrived on the flight to Tel Aviv, the last of a series of monthly flights that were part of Operation Dove's Wings, an Israeli government initiative to bring to Israel the remainder of the Falash Mura, members of the Ethiopian Jewish community whose ancestors converted to C

Israeli-Ethiopian community divided on bringing 8,000 Falash Mura

Minister of Immigration and Absorption Pnina Tamano-Shata presented last week a plan to bring to Israel 8,000 Falash Mura from Ethiopia by the end of 2022.

Nubian Egyptian women sell souvenirs in the village of Gharb Suhail near Aswan in Upper Egypt, some 920 kilometres south of the capital Cairo, on February 5, 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 harness the Nile's annual flood

Egypt shows interest in Nubian community after years of marginalization

The marginalized Nubian community is back at the forefront in Egypt with a boat race festival to preserve Nubian heritage, held for a second time in Aswan governorate.

A general view shows the terraced gardens and the golden Shrine of Bab following renovation works at the Bahai World Center, in the Israeli port city of Haifa, on April 12, 2011. The restoration work in the Bahai Faith second holiest site began in 2008 and was carried out by volunteers from Mongolia, China, Ecuador, Kenya, Germany, Canada, U.S, South Africa, Vanuatu, India and New Zealand . The gardens, tucked into the steep slopes of mount Carmel, are designed in nine concentric circles around the shrine w

The lesser of two evils: Yemen’s Bahais from prison into exile

Shortly after their release, six members of the Bahai community in Yemen were sent into exile, in a stark example of the political climate in this war-ravaged country.

Intel: Syria to build Hagia Sophia replica with Russian backing

With support from Russian officials and the Orthodox Church, Syria will begin construction on a small-scale replica of the Hagia Sophia that will serve as an Orthodox cathedral.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - JULY 24: In this handout picture released by the Turkish Presidential press office, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and invited guests attend Friday prayers at Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque during the buildings first official prayers after being reconverted into a mosque on July, 24, 2020 in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo by Handout/Turkish Presidential Press Office/Getty Images)

Istanbul's Hagia Sophia holds first Friday prayers since reconversion to mosque

Is Turkey's reconversion of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque a politically expedient decision or part of Turkey’s growing global assertiveness?

A picture taken on January 13, 2020 shows flooding in Iran's Sistan-Baluchistan region with rain water covering the village Dashtiari, as severe downpour led to floods across region, blocking roads and damaging homes. (Photo by ALIREZA MASOUMI / ISNA / AFP) (Photo by ALIREZA MASOUMI/ISNA/AFP via Getty Images)

Gulf of Oman development continues to disenfranchise Baloch fishermen

The Baloch people residing in the Gwadar Bay between Iran and Pakistan have been marginalized due to the environmental destruction of the area.

Freed American pastor Andrew Brunson (L) prays for US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC, October 13, 2018. - Brunson, held for two years in Turkey, returned to the US earlier Saturday after a court freed him in a case that sparked a crisis in Ankara's ties with Washington and trouble for its economy. The court in the western town of Aliaga convicted Brunson on terror-related charges and sentenced him to three years, one month and 15 days in jail. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP) (P

Turkey expels Protestant missionaries for 'threatening public order'

The Turkish Protestant community is witnessing a purge as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government turns up pressure against the church.

Assyrians caught in crossfire between Turkey, PKK fighting

Wars, attacks by the Islamic State, pressure from remaining militia groups and now attacks by Turkey have emptied or destroyed many Assyrian communities in northern Iraq.

DOUZ, TUNISIA: An abandoned Berber village sits in dunes in the vicinity of Zaafarane, near the southern Tunisian town of Douz, 24 December 2006 as the 39th International Sahara Festival opens. The festival, held 600 kms (370 miles) south of Tunis, draws locals and tourists for a cultural event that celebrates the region's heritage and desert people. AFP PHOTO FETHI BELAID (Photo credit should read FETHI BELAID/AFP via Getty Images)

Amazigh languish in underserved pockets of southeast Tunisia

Post-revolutionary Tunisia has been friendlier to its indigenous Amazigh, but the concentration of wealth and power in the north continues to marginalize the remote communities.

A member loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) waves an ISIL flag in Raqqa June 29, 2014. The offshoot of al Qaeda which has captured swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria has declared itself an Islamic "Caliphate" and called on factions worldwide to pledge their allegiance, a statement posted on jihadist websites said on Sunday. The group, previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as ISIS, has renamed itself "Islamic State" and proclaimed its leader

Intel: US doubles reward for information on Islamic State leader

The US government is offering $10 million for information leading to the location of Islamic State leader Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla.

Sunni figures in exile return to Iraq as part of national reconciliation

Rafi Isawi has returned to Iraq to face trial for accusations related to terrorism; other Sunni figures with similar cases have expressed readiness to return to Iraq.