Orientul Mijlociu

In a September 1, 2025 interview on Al-Arabiya Network (Saudi Arabia), Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected claims that the Palestinians made any concessions in the Oslo Accords. He said that, on the contrary, the Oslo Accords achieved the return of 1,850,000 Palestinians to their homeland. Abbas added that United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which deemed Israeli settlements illegal, was a parting gift from President Obama and his administration. He said that then-National Security Advisor Susan Rice was behind the resolution, and that it was coordinated between the Palestinians, the United States, and Britain. Abbas stated that the resolution passed unanimously, except for an American abstention.

Some of the Hamas terrorists who guarded the hostages in Gaza were teachers, university professors and even doctors who had been radicalized, a former Israeli captive said.

In the wake of this week’s hostage release, Tal Shoham — who was among the hostages freed in February — relived his 500 days of captivity under Hamas, forcing him to contend with just how deep-rooted the hatred for the Jewish state had grown in Gaza over the two years of war.

The leader of Syria’s Nusra Front said in recording aired Thursday that his group is changing its name, claiming it will have no more ties with al-Qaida in an attempt to undermine a potential U.S. and Russian air campaign against its fighters.

Clashes broke out this week between Syrian government forces and fighters in a camp in northern Syria’s Idlib province led by an internationally wanted French militant.

The clashes come at a delicate moment, as Syria’s interim authorities are trying to decide how to handle the presence of thousands of Islamist foreign fighters in the country.

Bottom Line Up Front

Iranian leaders fear that Türkiye, emboldened by the ousting of the Assad regime in Syria, will further advance its influence in the South Caucasus at the expense of Iran.

Iran’s foreign minister visited Tehran’s key South Caucasus ally, Armenia, last week to coordinate efforts to thwart the establishment of a Turkish-backed transit corridor that would block Iran’s land access to Armenia.

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa is calibrating relations with both Washington and Moscow to ensure they both contribute to the country’s stability and security.

Sharaa’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week sought, in part, to prod Trump officials to pressure Israel to end its assaults on Syrian territory and Syrian strategic assets.

To weaken Hamas’s grip on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli government initiated a campaign to arm rival groups within the enclave, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged in June. The first of these groups, the Popular Forces led by Yasser Abu Shabab, surfaced in May as a direct challenge to Hamas’s authority. Backed by Israeli funding and logistical support, additional anti-Hamas militias soon emerged, seeking to erode Hamas’s control from within. These groups, particularly the Popular Forces, have complicated Hamas’s internal governance and drawn retaliatory attacks.

The question of what should happen to the terrorists who committed the October 7 massacre remains at large. Now, after the release of the final living hostages, it will finally begin to be answered.

Working in apparent coordination with Abu Shabab, which also claims arms and other support from Israel, Hossam al-Astal says hundreds flocking to his base for food, power and escape from Hamas

In a village south of Khan Younis, emptied by months of fighting, a 50-year-old former Palestinian Authority officer is carving out what appears to be the latest attempt to pare back Hamas’s power in the Strip, establishing a small, armed enclave that promises an alternative to the terror group with the quiet support of Israel and the West.

The photo shows a lean, tanned man in a dark helmet. He’s grasping a rifle and UN vehicles move behind him as he waves through traffic.

The man is Yasser Abu Shabab, who says he commands hundreds of armed men known as the Popular Forces to offer protection to international organizations working in southern Gaza.