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

School bells ring again at Mosul's Christian school

Shimon Safa Elementary School has welcomed students of many faiths for years, and now the Christian school has opened again, thanks to the residents of the city.

A picture taken on April 30, 2018 shows an electoral banner for the Iraqi Turkmen Front hanging beneath the flags of Iraq (L) and the Iraqi Turkmen (C, white crescent and stars on a blue background) above a pedestrian crossing in the oil-rich and multi-ethnic northern city of Kirkuk. - The past seven months have seen a dramatic turn of events in Kirkuk, the "Jerusalem of Kurdistan", where hopes of independence for Iraqi Kurdistan were dashed after Baghdad retaliated against a referendum held in September. (

Why Iraqi Turkmens are excluded from the new government

Iraqi Turkmens say they have been excluded from the new Iraqi government because they refuse to follow a sectarian approach to politics.

Israeli intervention in Jerusalem provokes Coptic Christians

A recent run-in shines a spotlight on age-old disputes between Christian denominations in the Middle East.

Can Libya’s tribes help solve crisis?

In an interview with Al-Monitor, the head of the Supreme Council of the Tuareg Tribes, Mawlay Qudeidi, speaks about the clashes between rival militias in Tripoli, the security situation and illegal immigration in the south, as well as the elections pushed for by the United Nations.

Tunisia’s bold move to end racial discrimination

Activists hailed the Tunisian parliament’s recent approval of a law criminalizing racial discrimination, although they believe the road is still long to completely eliminate racism that is deeply rooted in Tunisian society.

Why demolishing West Bank village will cost Israel dearly

Europe is warning Israel that demolishing Khan al-Ahmar, a Bedouin-Palestinian village, will constitute a war crime and lead to demands for financial compensation for facilities there provided by its members.

Israel’s ‘Mizrahi revolution’ enters a new stage

Education Minister Naftali Bennett is acting to include works by Mizrahi figures in literature and poetry in the school curriculum.

Thousands left stateless in Iran amid ID card limbo

Thousands of mainly ethnic Balochs are deprived of access to basic government services in Iran as they are formally stateless without state-issued ID cards.

Nationality Law leads some Druze to re-evaluate identity

While Druze soldiers and generals in the Israel Defense Forces have taken the lead in protesting against the discriminatory aspects of the law defining Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, many Israeli Druze are saying the controversial legislation came as no surprise.

Genocide still haunts Iraq's Yazidis

Four years after the genocide against them, Yazidis mark its anniversary without a noticeable improvement in their situation.

Palestinians and Arab Israelis demonstrate in solidarity with protests in the Gaza Strip on May 4, 2018 near the Erez crossing point with Gaza. - Hundreds of Palestinians began gathering along the Gaza Strips border with Israel for a sixth consecutive Friday of mass protests following violence in which dozens of Gazans have been killed by Israeli forces. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo credit should read AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images)

Without conscription, will Israel's Arab citizens ever obtain equal rights?

The relative contribution of Arab Israelis to the shaping of Israeli culture, economy and science is more significant than that of their Druze neighbors, yet Israeli Jewish society refuses to acknowledge it.

Israeli Bedouins hold flags during a rally marking the fifth anniversary of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit near the southern kibbutz of Kerem Shalom June 25, 2011. The International Red Cross called on Hamas on Thursday to provide proof that Shalit is still alive nearly five years after his capture by Palestinian militants. June 25, 2011 marks the fifth anniversary of Shalit's capture. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CIVIL UNREST ANNIVERSARY) - GM1E76P1TT401

Israel’s Bedouin sidelined as Netanyahu makes deal with Druze

The Bedouin community is bitter over the offer outlined by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to assuage the Druze community's concerns about the controversial new Nationality Law.