Middle East Monitor

Sources close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior security officials believe military action will weaken Iran’s regime but will not topple it, Israeli public broadcaster Kan 11 reported. One of Netanyahu’s allies recently said he did not believe military action could replace Iran’s regime, but could only weaken it. A senior Israeli security official was also quoted as saying that “a military attack will not topple the regime, but will weaken it”. These assessments contradict

There appears to be little prospect of lasting peace between Iran and the United States while Donald Trump remains in the White House. This is a view that an increasing number of serious actors across the region now seem to share. Eight months into Iran war, Washington has neither broken Tehran’s resolve nor found a clear path out. The president’s own remarks point to a narrowing set of options. Trump told TIME he does not believe peace with Iran is ever possible, a striking admission from the l

Just days before pivotal Israeli elections, opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot said Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “no longer fit” to lead the country, warning that his economic plan to counter potential international sanctions threatens national security, Anadolu reports. On US social media company X, the Yashar party leader accused Netanyahu of turning his attention to “dismantling the Israeli economy for generations ahead” after “dismantling Israeli society and weakening the

Israeli forces turned Palestinian homes into barracks and observation posts after forcing residents to leave the city of Hebron on Saturday, day two of a military operation in the southern occupied West Bank, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, Anadolu reports. Troops took over homes in the Khallat Manna and Dahiyat al-Zaytoun areas of southern Hebron to be used as barracks, official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, citing sources. They also forced residents from homes in o

A ruling Labour Party lawmaker on Saturday urged the British government to act on the situation in the occupied West Bank, saying “full sanctions and (the) political isolation of Israel” must be led by the UK, Anadolu reports. “As Netanyahu starts the process of turning the West Bank into a second Gaza our government has to act,” John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes & Harlington, wrote on US social media platform X. “The message needs to go out that this extension of the genocide will not be tole

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said Sunday that it intercepted and destroyed 10 ballistic missiles launched by the Houthi group from Yemen toward Saudi Arabia’s southern region, Anadolu reports. Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said on US social media company X that the missiles were shot down, without giving any details about injuries or damage. His announcement came after he said earlier in the day that the coalition intercepted and destroyed a Houthi cruise missile that targeted the sout

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that “nothing will be the same” in the region after the recent war with the US and Israel, including the management of the Strait of Hormuz, Anadolu reports. “The current war has changed everything. We must acknowledge that new realities have emerged,” Araghchi said in a speech at the Foreign Ministry, as cited by Iran’s Press TV. “The shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz will no longer be the same as before, nor will the strait be m

In 1956, Britain was forced to abandon the Suez Canal and withdraw from Egypt after a humiliating political and financial defeat. The crisis did not end the British Empire overnight, but it exposed the decline of a power that had dominated much of the world for more than two centuries, in an empire on which the sun famously never set. Britain could still fight wars, but it could no longer act as an independent global power without facing the economic and political limits of its strength. Now, ne

The head of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee warned Saturday that a “single miscalculation” could render Israel uninhabitable in less than an hour, posting a map marking infrastructure sites across the country, Anadolu reports. “A single miscalculation is all it takes: the occupied lands rendered uninhabitable in under an hour,” Ebrahim Azizi wrote on US social media company X. بدانید در صورت هرگونه اقدام علیه امنیت و منافع ملی ما، غیرمسکونی سازی سرزمین های

The Bank of Israel said Saturday that cryptocurrencies cannot be used to circumvent potential economic sanctions in response to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to prepare alternative financial arrangements, according to a media report. The public broadcaster said the central bank’s response followed Netanyahu’s interview on Friday with an Israeli business channel, during which he proposed using cryptocurrencies as part of contingency plans for possible economic and banking sanctions

The persistent violence from Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied territories of the West Bank has become such common fare it risks becoming banal. Unfortunately, it takes events such as those befalling veteran photojournalist Heidi Levine of The Washington Post and European diplomats to return the attention to something that is not only grotesque but programmatic. On 16th October, while covering the annual olive harvest in the West Bank Levine, fellow journalists and a group of

Sixteen years after recognising the State of Palestine, Chile will mark its first official Day of Chilean-Palestinian Friendship and Solidarity on 7th January 2027, following the passage of a new law celebrating the historic ties between the two peoples. Published in Chile’s Official Gazette on Thursday, 22nd October 2026, Law No. 21,843 officially designates 7 January as an annual day of friendship and solidarity with Palestine. The move also reaffirms Chile’s commitment to Palestinian human ri

Marine bunkering services have begun at Gwadar. Meanwhile, according to reporting in June 2026, the proposed $10 billion Saudi refinery announced for the port in 2019 had yet to attract the promised investment. These contrasting experiences raise a fundamental question: where should Pakistan begin with Gwadar’s development? The strongest starting point is commercial activity with existing customers and measurable revenue. That can provide a foundation for larger investments. Pakistani fuel, a ne

On Thursday, Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry defended the country’s seat on the Board of Peace. Ministry spokesperson Vahd Nabyl Mulachela said joining the Board is part of Indonesia’s effort to support Palestine and help rebuild Gaza. He hoped the Board could lead to an independent Palestine living next to Israel. He was answering Amnesty International Indonesia. A day earlier, its director, Usman Hamid, said the Board was a mistake from the very beginning and that Indonesia still has time to leav

Amnesty International on Saturday warned that upcoming elections must not deflect attention from Israel’s international crimes, urging continued scrutiny and accountability, Anadolu reports. In a statement, Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s senior director for research, policy, advocacy and campaigns, said Palestinians have little reason to expect the outcome to deliver positive human rights change as much of the world’s attention focuses on Israel’s upcoming parliamentary elections o

Iraq’s prime minister said Friday that no US troops are left in the country, including in advisory roles, as Baghdad moves to bring all weapons under state control by next June, Anadolu reports. Ali Faleh Al-Zaidi told the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the absence of foreign forces had removed the justification armed factions previously cited for retaining their weapons. He stressed that the government’s decision to restrict weapons to state institutions was final and irreversible. “By June 30, 2

Two children were killed, three civilians wounded and four people abducted in Houthi attacks in Yemen’s southwestern Taiz province over 24 hours, a rights group said Saturday, Anadolu reports. In a statement, the Yemen Network for Rights and Freedoms said it had “documented 21 crimes and violations by the Houthis over the past 24 hours in Taiz governorate,” including the firing of around 213 projectiles at residential areas. “Three civilians, including two women, sustained various injuries, whil

The Israeli army continued its siege of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank for a second consecutive day on Saturday, forcing dozens of Palestinians from their homes, according to Palestinian media, Anadolu reports. Israeli forces raided the al-Jilda and Deir Bahha areas in central Hebron and placed them under a complete siege, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. The army also forced dozens of residents to leave their homes and stand outdoors in the early morning hours, acc

Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defense announced Saturday that danger has passed in four areas of the kingdom following earlier alerts warning of a “potential danger,”  Anadolu reports. The all-clear covered the Jeddah, Taif and Yanbu governorates, as well as Mecca province, according to statements issued by the Civil Defense on US social media platform X. The agency urged people to follow its instructions and “avoid gathering and filming” in the affected areas. The warnings came amid escalating hostiliti