Scandal in Aleppo Governorate: A Multi-Million Dollar Deal with a Phantom Organization

The International Organization for Human Rights and Refugee Affairs supposed secretary-general, Frederick Schulman, is a U.S. investor convicted of multimillion-dollar real estate fraud, al-Hal writes.

Aleppo’s war-weary residents were told in late August that relief was on the way: a $10 million memorandum of understanding signed with the “International Organization for Human Rights and Refugee Affairs” (IOHR) to rehabilitate roads and restore vital infrastructure. The announcement, made via the governorate’s official Facebook page and splashed across state media, was presented as a breakthrough in attracting international support for Syria’s reconstruction.

Week in Review: Deadlocks, Unexpected Twists and New Approaches

On August 26, Kosovo’s parliament finally managed to elect a Speaker, Dimal Basha of Vetevendosje, some seven months after general elections took place. Citizens of Kosovo and political observers alike breathed a sigh of relief, hoping this could be the beginning of the end of a frustrating political crisis.

The celebrations may have been premature. With the Speaker elected, the process of constituting Kosovo’s Parliament hit another, apparently insurmountable, hurdle, over the election of a deputy speaker drawn from the Kosovo Serb community. Another intervention by the Constitutional Court is likely to be needed. Meanwhile, negotiations on forming a government have yet to start.

Why Jordan is bringing back military conscription

Reinstating compulsory army service is a calculated response to evolving security dynamics, suggesting Jordan is preparing for prolonged regional uncertainty

Jordan’s announcement earlier this month on the reinstatement of mandatory military conscription after a three-decade hiatus marked a significant shift in the kingdom’s defence posture amid escalating regional tensions.

Israel and Yemen’s Houthis: A war with no end in sight

In a dramatic escalation, Israel last week launched a targeted airstrike that killed Ahmed al-Rahawi, the prime minister of the de facto Houthi regime in Sanaa.

The 28 August attack marks the most senior Ansar Allah figure killed in US-Israeli military operations to date, signalling a significant shift in strategy. Alongside Rahawi, several other high-ranking Houthi officials were killed or wounded.

The future of northeast Syria: Will tensions between the SDF and Arab tribes explode?

With negotiations between the Kurdish-dominated SDF and Damascus stalled, clashes and tribal calls for mobilisation raise the prospect of widening violence

Tensions are simmering in Syria’s northeast as negotiations between Damascus and the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stall, with low-level clashes and tribal calls for mobilisation raising the prospect of more bloodshed in post-Assad Syria.

Annexation of the West Bank has always been Israel’s plan

Annexing the West Bank is the culmination of a decades-long Israeli project: the steady dispossession, erasure, and replacement of Palestinians

Israel has crossed a line the world once swore must never be crossed, with maps being drawn up by Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, to annex the West Bank and bring the occupied Palestinian territory under Israeli sovereignty.

Western media will always give Israel the benefit of propaganda

For nearly two years, Western media has normalised Israeli war crimes and dehumanised Palestinians amid Gaza’s ongoing genocide, argues Assal Rad.

Language is not neutral; it shapes the way we perceive global events with profound implications for public opinion. In the context of the Gaza genocide, the discourse deployed by Western media is far from objective. It often contributes to the dehumanisation of Palestinians while reinforcing pro-Israel narratives. This bias is not just about what is reported, and what is not, but also about how the story is told.

Covert volunteers uncover clandestine Hamas funding

This past July, a cleric from Gaza with 1 million followers on TikTok launched a fundraising campaign on US-based crowdfunding platform GoFundMe. The stated goal: to raise 500,000 euros “for humanitarian needs and aid to civilians in Gaza.”

But behind the scenes, a covert team sought to uncover his true goals and quickly tracked down his connections to a cleric named Al-Sharif, a member of the Hamas-affiliated Palestinian Preachers’ Forum. Using facial recognition software, the team tracked down footage on social media showing the recruiter calling on Gazan youth to become “Soldiers of the next October 7.” The evidence was handed over to GoFundMe. The result: the fundraising campaign was frozen within 36 hours.

Europe : proie américaine depuis 1945 – De la libération à la vassalisation

Libérée du nazisme par Moscou en 1945, l’Europe a été recyclée par Washington en vassale consentante. Derrière l’illusion de la souveraineté, tout démontre une dépendance structurelle : bases américaines intouchables, OTAN sous commandement US, énergie et industrie sous tutelle. Aujourd’hui, le Vieux Continent finance docilement son propre déclin, au nom de la guerre en Ukraine.

Syria’s Al-Sharaa and the Most Dangerous Mutation of Political Islamism

The Syrian leader is heading a neo-Jihadism that is more insidious and dangerous than all other forms of political Islamism and Salafi-Jihadism the world has known so far.

Syria’s interim self-appointed president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who served for two decades as a militant in the al-Qaeda terrorist organization under the alias Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, told the press recently that he does not see himself as an extension of political Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood or classical Salafi-jihadists like ISIS and al-Qaeda. To those who are blind to the many shades of jihadism, these statements might seem to signal that al-Jolani is abandoning his jihadist beliefs or that Syria is entering a post-Islamist era. In reality, these statements are a declaration of the evolution of an even more volatile and dangerous hybrid ideology: neo-Jihadism.