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

Pakistan activists protest in Lahore on Jan. 19, 2024, after Iran launched an airstrike in Pakistan's southwest Baluchistan province.

What's behind Turkey's muted response to Iran-Pakistan escalation?

Two considerations stand out in Turkey’s muted response to recent Iranian strikes in Iraq and Pakistan.

A Baloch militant (L) hands over his gun and surrenders to Baluchistan province Chief Minister Sardar Sanaullah Khan Zehri (R) in Quetta on April 21, 2017. Around 500 Baloch rebel militants on April 21 surrendered to Pakistan's government as Islamabad pursues its development agenda linked to the ambitious China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the southwest province. / AFP PHOTO / BANARAS KHAN (Photo credit should read BANARAS KHAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Across Baluchistan, who are the groups targeted by Iran, Pakistan?

The cross-border strikes have raised questions about the separatist groups operating in the border area between Iran and Pakistan.

Pakistani soldiers wearing facemasks patrol near the closed Pakistan-Iran border in Taftan, as fears over the spread of the coronavirus escalate following an outbreak in neighboring Iran, Feb. 25, 2020.

What is behind Iran-Pakistan border escalation, the worst in decades?

Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan province, located on the border with Pakistan, has long been plagued by poverty, protests and militant activity.

Lucy Aharish

Israeli ministry faces backlash for denying Jewish event funds over Arab anchor

Many in Israel were appalled by the Education Ministry revoking funding for a Jewish event that featured beloved Arab Israeli journalist Lucy Aharish.

A model wearing clothing from Shahira Mehrez's collection.

Culture

'Costumes of Egypt: Lost Legacies': An author's bid to save forgotten identities

Art expert Shahira Mehrez talks about her quest to recollect and preserve the Egyptian women’s traditional costumes.

A ritual of hope: Exploring Istanbul's 'First Day of the Month Church'

On the first day of 2024, hundreds from different faiths, including Muslims, flock to a famous Istanbul church, engaging in ancient rituals that transform New Year's aspirations into realities.

An undated image of Hisham Awatarni.

Mother of Palestinian student shot in Vermont: 'Hateful rhetoric’ aided attack

Al-Monitor interviewed Elizabeth Price, whose son, Hisham Awartani, was shot in the northeast US in November amid a rise in hateful actions related to the Gaza war.

A picture shows the Armenian car park in the Old City of Jerusalem on December 13, 2023. When bulldozers rolled into Jerusalem's Old City to start work on an Israeli settlement that would build a luxury hotel atop a fourth of the historic Armenian quarter, residents rapidly mobilised. Ever since the construction work began, Armenians have set up camp -- bringing tents, stoves, mattresses and a TV -- to a weeks-long sit-in to guard the land. Inside a tent, wooden planks patch up the holes left by constructio

Founder of 'Save Armenian Quarter' is confident in victory in Jerusalem land case

Hagop Djernazian expressed confidence in an interview with Al-Monitor that the community has galvanized its efforts to prevail in the case.

Entrance to the Magen Abraham synagogue in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Aug. 11, 2009.

Culture

Passing of leader of Lebanon’s tiny Jewish community comes at heavy moment

The country is now home to 29 Jews, as thousands fled during the civil war in the past century amid rising anti-Jewish sentiment.

Quique Kierszenbaum/Getty Images

Armenian clergy members attacked in Jerusalem over real estate dispute

Hooded men attacked several Armenian clergymen and theology students, apparently in relation to a disputed deal for the sale of a parking lot inside the Armenia Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Palestinian Issa Kassissieh, dressed as Santa Claus.

In shadow of Gaza, Christmas is canceled in Israel this year

Against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, Arab Israeli municipalities — including in Nazareth, Jerusalem and Haifa — canceled all grand Christmas celebrations.

Assyrian Christians from Iraq, Syria and Lebanon attend a Christmas mass at Saint Georges church in an eastern Beirut suburb on Dec. 25, 2014.

Assyrian Christmas message raises tensions in Turkey’s parliament

The tensions are a snippet of the larger conflict regarding citizens’ rights to speak their mother tongues in the public and official sphere in multiethnic Turkey.