Antoun Issa - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Antoun Issa

Antoun Issa was a news editor for Al-Monitor's Beirut bureau. On Twitter: @antissa

A Romanian gendarme looks on as he guards the French embassy with a gate draped in black behind a book of condolences for the victims of the attack at the headquarters of French weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo, in Bucharest January 8, 2015. France began a day of mourning for the journalists and police officers shot dead on Wednesday morning by black-hooded gunmen who stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a weekly known for lampooning Islam and other religions. REUTERS/Radu Sigheti (ROMANIA - Tags: CR

Al-Qaeda challenges Islamic State with Paris attack

Antoun Issa

Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem listens to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton (R) as they wait for lunch during a break in the Geneva-2 peace talks in Montreux January 22, 2014. Syria's government and opposition, meeting for the first time, angrily spelled out their mutual hostility on Wednesday at a U.N. peace conference where world powers also offered sharply divergent views on forcing out Bashar al-Assad. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann (SWITZERLAND - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTX17PZ

Syria, West explore cooperation to fight Islamic State

Antoun Issa

Mouaz al-Khatib, Former President of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces speaks during the 11th US-Islamic World Forum, in Doha, on June 10, 2014. This years Forum is entitled Islam and Inclusion focuses on challenges of inclusion within Muslim communities around the world, especially in the context of governance, academia, religious institutions and civil society. The US-Islamic World Forum is a Brookings Institutions Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World, in pa

Khatib blames regional countries for prolonging Syria war

Antoun Issa

Egyptian-born war crimes expert and Chair of the International Commission of Inquiry, Cherif Bassiouni is pictured before the presentation of his report on alleged violations of international human rights law in Libya, to the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva June 9, 2011. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse (SWITZERLAND - Tags: POLITICS CRIME LAW) - RTR2NHDX

Bassiouni: Bahrain's progress limited by 'piecemeal' approach to reforms

Antoun Issa

(From L to R) Palestinian legislator Mustafa Barghouti, Palestinian Fatah delegation chief Azzam al-Ahmed, Hamas prime minister in the Gaza Strip Ismail Haniya, Hamas deputy leader Musa Abu Marzuk, and secretary-general of the Palestinian Arab Front (PAF) Jameel Shehadeh, pose for a picture in Gaza on April 23, 2014. Rival Palestinian leaders from the West Bank and Gaza Strip agreed to form a unity government within five weeks as peace talks with Israel face collapse. AFP PHOTO / SAID KHATIB (Photo c

Barghouti says Israel must end 'profitable occupation'

Antoun Issa

From left to right:- Alia Mansour, member of the Syrian National Coalition, Mouaz al-Khatib, Former President of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, and Hassan Hachimi, member of the Syrian National Coalition, attend the U.S. Islamic World Forum, in Doha, on June 10, 2014. This years Forum is entitled Islam and Inclusion focuses on challenges of inclusion within Muslim communities around the world, especially in the context of governance, academia, religious institutions a

Syria's Muslim Brotherhood rules out talks with Iran

Antoun Issa

A rebel fighter gestures as he runs across a street in Mleha suburb of Damascus, during what the rebel fighters said was an offensive against them by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, April 2, 2014. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3JQRF

Syria's moderate rebels still losing ground to extremists

Antoun Issa

Member of the Syrian National Council Murhaf Jouejati speaks during a news conference in Berlin, August 28, 2012. Jouejati and two fellow members of the Syrian opposition presented the results of the project 'The Day After: Supporting a Democratic Transition in Syria'. REUTERS/Thomas Peter (GERMANY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR376QN

Syrian opposition cites 'momentum' after Geneva talks

Antoun Issa

Syrian foreign minister calls for national unity government

Antoun Issa

Syrian National Coalition Chief Ahmad al-Jarba (L) listens to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during the start of their meeting at the U.S. Ambassador residence in Paris January 13, 2014. Syria's government and some rebels may be willing to permit humanitarian aid to flow, enforce local ceasefires and take other confidence-building measures in the nearly three-year-old civil war, Kerry said on Monday. REUTERS/Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Pool (FRANCE - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX17CPS

Splits in Syrian opposition coalition ahead of vote

Antoun Issa

Syria’s internal political opposition may not attend Geneva II

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Syrian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Jihad Makdissi speaks during a news conference in Damascus June 25, 2012. Syrian air defences had to react immediately to a Turkish jet flying at 100 metres (330 feet) altitude inside Syrian airspace in what was "a clear breach of Syrian sovereignty", Makdissi said on Monday. REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR344TP

Former Syrian official backs Geneva political process

Antoun Issa