Archives for June, 2024

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani leaves after talks at the Coburg Palais, the venue of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna on August 4, 2022. - The United States and the European Union's Iran nuclear envoys on August 3, 2022 said they were travelling to Vienna for talks with Tehran's delegation as they seek to salvage the agreement on its atomic ambitions. (Photo by Alex HALADA / AFP) (Photo by ALEX HALADA/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran hopes to finalize 20-year pact with Russia as Bagheri Kani meets Lavrov

Despite lingering questions and skepticism at home, the Iranian government has been pushing the agreement as part of its overall strategy to build new alliances meant to mitigate Western political pressure and economic sanctions.

In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) attends a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (R) in Moscow on June 11, 2024.

Putin meets Fidan, 'fully supports' Turkey’s aspirations in BRICS

The first bilateral meeting between Putin and Fidan saw the Russian leader embrace Ankara's interest in joining the BRICS as a counterweight to the West.

An aerial view of damage to homes following Israeli airstrikes on April 13, 2024, in Khan Yunis, Gaza.

Hamas submits Gaza cease-fire response to Qatar, Egypt

Hamas' formal reply comes a day after the UN Security Council passed a resolution backing the three-phase proposal.

Members of the Sudanese army's Special Mission Forces battalion in the Northern State hold a parade in Karima city on May 19, 2024.

ICC seeks evidence on Sudan war crimes as displacement tops 10 million

The appeal comes as fighting between the Sudanese army and rival forces escalates, leaving a heavy toll on civilians.

I-HWA CHENG/AFP via Getty Images

Intel delays work on $25B Israel plant as tech sector feels impact of Gaza war

Israel’s tech sector has been impacted by the Gaza war as well as the government’s judicial reform plans and the global tech downturn.

Palestinians wave their national flags, and banners bearing the image of jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghuti with a slogan demanding his release and referring to him as the "symbol of freedom", during a celebration marking the 57th anniversary of Fatah movement's foundation, in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on December 30, 2021.

Movement for PLO reform faces opposition from Ramallah leadership

Players from the Palestinian diaspora and elsewhere are pushing hard for reforms to the Palestine Liberation Organization, causing enough of a stir that President Mahmoud Abbas appears to be worried.

Israeli police officers try to remove ultra-Orthodox Jews protesting against defence ministry plans to end their longstanding exemption from compulsory military service

Israel lawmakers revive bill on ultra-Orthodox conscription

Agence France-Presse

Lebanese army forces deploy near the US Embassy after a Syrian man was arrested following a shooting near the embassy, Beirut, Lebanon, June 5, 2024.

Do Lebanon's US Embassy attack, border clashes signal rise in extremism?

While armed groups are becoming more active in Lebanon in the wake of regional tensions resulting from the Gaza war, some believe the country is not prone to rise of extremism.

Cars drive past a billboard bearing an inscription in Hebrew which reads 'think well of who benefits from our division - unity now', with a portrait of the head of the political wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar, in Tel Aviv on April 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Palestinian territory. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

As Hamas, Netanyahu 'accept' US plan, Sinwar 'riding high,' far from surrender

Israel’s updated assessments point to the fact that Hamas is far from surrendering and that the group’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar and his surviving leadership partners are convinced time is on their side.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Palestinian men walk along a narrow street past destroyed buildings in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip

Hamas offers response to Gaza truce plan as fighting rages

Agence France-Presse

Jordan's King Abdullah II (right) takes part in an emergency summit on Gaza aid in Sweimeh on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan

US promises $400 mln in Palestinian aid as ceasefire push grows

Agence France-Presse

United Nations Security Council members votes to adopt a US-drafted resolution supporting a ceasefire plan in Gaza

UN Sec. Council votes for US-drafted Gaza ceasefire resolution

Agence France-Presse

This pool photograph distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik shows Russia's President Vladimir Putin attending a virtual summit of the BRICS group of nations (the bloc that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) to discuss the Israel-Hamas war, in Moscow on November 21, 2023. (Photo by Alexander KAZAKOV / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

UAE, Saudi, Iran, Egypt, Turkey FMs attend Russia's BRICS meeting

The BRICS foreign ministers meeting focused on diplomatic developments related to the Gaza war and efforts to ditch the US dollar in international trade, among other matters.

Members of the United Nations Security Council vote on a resolution during a meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question at the United Nations headquarters on June 10, 2024 in New York City. The UN Security Council held a vote on a resolution drafted by the U.S. backing a proposal outlined by U.S. President Joe Biden calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The first phase of the resolution consists of an "immediate, full and complete ceasefire"

Breaking | Last Updated: June 14, 2024, 11:05 am

UN Security Council approves US-sponsored Gaza cease-fire resolution

The resolution said that Israel has “accepted” the deal outlined by President Joe Biden on May 31 and “calls upon” Hamas to do the same.

Palestinians watch as a ship transporting international humanitarian aid docks at the US-built Trident Pier near Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on May 18, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas.

Pentagon says Gaza aid pier had no link to Israeli hostage raid

Unfounded claims that the United States or Israeli military used the Gaza aid pier for a raid that killed more than 200 Palestinians could put humanitarian aid workers in danger.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan meets with Sergei Shoigu, Secretary of the Russian Federation Security Council, in Moscow, June 10, 2024.

Turkey’s Fidan holds talks in Russia ahead of BRICS summit

Fidan’s attendance at the BRICS+ summit comes at a time when Turkey’s dismay with the European Union is growing over pending resumption of the modernization of the Customs Union Treaty.