'A Separation' director criticized in Iran for Gaza Facebook post A widely-shared photo of Iranian director Asghar Farhadi and a human rights lawyer posing with a banner simply condemning “killing” in Gaza has caused controversy in Iran. Palestine
Did Iran train Gaza rocket makers? While Iran was unable to smuggle rockets in, sources claim Tehran instead trained Gaza Strip groups to make their own. Palestine
Domestic violence increases among Syrian refugees The stresses of the war and lack of income are resulting in more cases of domestic violence among Syrian refugees in Jordan. Jordan
Turkey makes strides on deficit reduction Turkey’s current account deficit, a long-standing economic hardship, has dropped to $52.5 billion, already beating the government's year-end target. Turkey
Fall of Amran sends shock waves across Yemen The causes of the Yemeni government’s failure to hold the city of Amran against Houthi militias are deeply rooted in history. Yemen
Meshaal speaks out on possible cease-fire In an interview with Al-Monitor, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal urged the United States to take a more balanced approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and criticized Egypt’s hard-line stance toward his movement. Egypt
Public outraged over Gaza, but Arab governments stay silent The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has a way of unifying the Arab public in support of the Palestinians, but their respective governments’ positions vary widely. Saudi Arabia
Israeli jurist says killing civilians not always a war crime On the backdrop of Operation Protective Edge, former Shin Bet legal adviser Eli Bahar outlines the legal concepts involved in warfare and the boundaries of permissible IDF actions in Gaza according to international law. Palestine
Obama's request for Syrian aid runs into trouble House members raise concerns as senators take up spending bill. Iraq
Egypt Caucus gets off to rough start Protesters disrupted the launch of a new House group that seeks to preserve fraying US-Egyptian ties Egypt
UAE likely to support Egypt for long haul It's in the UAE's interests for Egypt to stabilize, and it will continue to offer unconditional support to Cairo until that objective is met. United Arab Emirates
Jordanians angered by Israel's war on Gaza Jordanians have protested against the war on Gaza, demanding that Amman cut ties with Israel, but that is unlikely to happen. Palestine
Egypt hasn't ruled out importing gas from Israel The Egyptian government says it has not received official requests to import gas from Israeli companies, but has received expressions of intent from various foreign companies operating in the country. Egypt
With little help from Iran, Hamas fights Israel with homemade rockets Hamas’ rockets are locally produced and lacking a qualitative edge due to Iran’s decision to cut military support to the Islamist movement. Palestine
Peshmerga to 'fill in' for Iraqi army in disputed areas The secretary-general of the Ministry of Peshmerga, Jabbar Yawar, said in an interview with Al-Monitor that the peshmerga forces are merely taking defensive positions against armed groups and have not seized the Iraqi army’s weapons. Iraq
Netanyahu betrayed by Likud in wartime His own coalition members and others are publicly criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for approving the cease-fire, with Deputy Defense Minister Danny Dannon leading the assault, forcing the premier to fire him. Israel
