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.

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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

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men pray in front of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City as a note advice not to kiss the stones of the Western Wall display March 16, 2020 REUTERS/ Ilan Rosenberg - RC21LF90G2FL

Ultra-Orthodox leaders ignore coronavirus threat, endanger Israelis

Ultra-Orthodox educational institutions continued to operate despite orders by the government to close all schools to try to control the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Palestinians' electoral success in Israel can't be denied

Palestinian citizens of Israel made a huge accomplishment in the latest Israel elections by winning an unprecedented 15 seats.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party election campaign banner depicting his main rival Benny Gantz, head of Blue and White party sitting with Arab politician Ahmad Tibi, of the Joint List party, and Hebrew writing reading: "Without Ahmad Tibi, Gantz doesn't have a government", is seen in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, Israel, February 25, 2020. Picture taken February 25, 2020. REUTERS/Corinna Kern - RC2F8F9OG6H9

Does Jewish-Arab partnership to form government stand a chance in Israel?

The Likud is continuing its campaign of incitement against Arab party representatives to head off their helping form a minority government led by Blue and White.

Will Israeli Arabs facilitate the ‘Netanyahu-removal government’?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to believe that it is not a problem for Arab citizens to vote as long as they cast their ballots for the Likud, otherwise they should not have a voice in their governance.

Egypt's Coptic philanthropist nominated for Nobel Prize

Visits to the garbage slums of Cairo transformed Magda Gobran — a businesswoman and an academic with a comfortable life — to Mama Maggie of the poor.

Egypt bans Shiite websites to deter extremist ideologies

An Egyptian court has banned Shiite websites and TV channels, under the pretext that they threaten national security, stirring controversy among Shiites in Egypt.

Meet the artist haunted by violent moments in Turkey, Lebanon

Turkey's veteran artist Hale Tenger tackles coups, destruction and political assassinations in the Middle East, using marriage of poetry and images.

Libyan Jews' potential return sends out political shockwaves

Some members of the Libyan parliament and public vocally oppose the idea of Jews returning or participating in the country's peace process.

(L to R) Heba Yazbak, member and candidate for the Balad (National Democratic Alliance) party that is part of the Joint List alliance, applauds as Osama Saadi, member and candidate for the Arab Movement for Change (Taal) party raises his hands together with Balad party member and candidate Mtanes Shehadeh, Hadash (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) party's chairman and candidate Ayman Odeh, Taal's leader and candidate Ahmad Tibi, Hadash's member and candidate Aida Touma, and the Islamic Movement's mem

Israel’s Gantz dismisses the Joint List, shooting self in foot, again

Blue and White head Benny Gantz has fallen into a trap set by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by publicly rejecting the Arab Joint List.

Small Istanbul publisher sustains Armenian literature

Aras Publishing has spent nearly three decades publishing forgotten classics by Armenian writers in both Turkish and the at-risk Western Armenian language.

Why Lebanon's priests think marriage is better than celibacy

In Lebanon, Maronites, Greek Catholics, Armenian Catholics and Syrian Catholics widely accept — and even prefer — married priests.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yaffa Issachar, mother of Naama Issachar who is jailed in Russia on drug charges, and officials attend a meeting in Jerusalem, January 23, 2020. Sputnik/Alexei Nikolskyi/Kremlin via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. - RC2MLE9IX6KG

What Israel gave to Russia in return for release of its national

In order to get Naama Issachar released from a prison in Moscow, Israel broke its rule of not interfering in real estate disputes related to churches in Jerusalem.