Edward Finkelstein

Israel has started the operational rollout of its largest-ever natural gas export agreement with Egypt, worth an estimated $35 billion, following the completion of a new offshore pipeline between Ashdod and Ashkelon.

Five new Qadis - judges of Islamic law - were sworn in to serve in Israel's Sharia courts during a ceremony held today at the President's Residence in Jerusalem.

Tens of thousands filled Tehran's Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla on Saturday to view the coffins of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and family members killed alongside him in the February airstrikes that opened the US-Israeli war on Iran. 

Syria's Ministry of Telecommunications announced Wednesday that Kuwait's Zain Group has been awarded a new mobile telecommunications licence in Syria, the latest in a series of Gulf investments flowing into the country since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

There's casual, and then there's a king walking into a Jordanian restaurant in jeans and a polo shirt to grab lunch like a regular guy.

The Israeli government unanimously approved Sunday the recognition of the Armenian genocide, dealing a pointed blow to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a moment of acute tension between the two countries.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Joe Raggi received a call Saturday from his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi, who congratulated Beirut on signing the framework agreement with Israel negotiated under American auspices.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected a U.S.-brokered security agreement between Lebanon and Israel on Saturday a day after it was signed, describing it as a surrender to Israel.

Iranian chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf declared this week that the United States and Iran would jointly "guarantee Lebanon's unity and the integrity of its territories." 

Lebanese Kataeb party chief Samy Gemayel drew a hard line Monday, declaring that Lebanese sovereigntists would never accept living alongside an armed Hezbollah, regardless of what is agreed in the US-Iran talks in Switzerland.

Iranian and American negotiators have reached agreement on mechanisms to halt fighting in Lebanon and secure the Strait of Hormuz, Pakistan and Qatar announced Monday following the first round of formal negotiations at the Bürgenstock resort in the Swiss Alps.

The ink on the US-Iran memorandum of understanding was barely dry before Tehran's chief negotiator was already drawing lines in the sand.