Orientul Mijlociu

The debate on migration has calmed down a bit in the news media. However, this does not mean that the issue has been ‘solved’. Quite the opposite.

In most discussions about migration, we tend to start with numbers. Understanding the scale changes, emerging trends and demographic shifts associated with global social and economic transformations, such as migration, helps us understand the changing world we live in and plan for the future. According to a global estimate by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) there were approximately 281 million international migrants in the world in 2020, representing 3.6 percent of the world’s population. The estimated number of international migrants has increased significantly over the past five decades, from 128 million in 1970 to 153 million in 1990. The latest figures for 2024 indicate 303,936,274 migrants.

Latest Developments

Lebanon Tells Iran to Abide by Diplomatic Norms: Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi had rejected “foreign interference” following criticism from Iranian Ambassador Mojtaba Amani over evolving plans that may lead to the disarmament of Tehran’s Hezbollah proxy. Amani, who was wounded during Israel’s “exploding pager” operation in September 2024, called the initiative “a clear conspiracy against nations.” Raggi responded that Lebanon “reject[s] any foreign interference in our internal affairs. We support positive neutrality, mutual respect for sovereignty, and shared Arab interests.”
Aoun Says State Monopoly Arms ‘Fundamental’ to Peace: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on April 20 that a state monopoly on bearing arms, which would necessarily preclude Hezbollah from operating, is a “sensitive, delicate issue” but one “that is fundamental to preserving civil peace.” The Lebanese army announced on April 20 that it had thwarted a rocket attack against Israel — the first such publicized intervention since the November 2024 ceasefire between the two countries.
Congressman Meets With Syrian Transitional President: The interim government in Syria — which, like its Lebanese neighbor, is also facing Iranian proxies operating on its territory — has cracked down on Hezbollah terrorists who backed the deposed regime of former President Bashar al-Assad. Following a meeting in Damascus with interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, U.S. Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) said the Syrian leader had told him that “under the right conditions,” Damascus would be prepared to join the “Abraham Accords” bloc of Arab states that have normalized relations with Israel. Mills said that he presented Sharaa with a list of conditions the new Syrian government must fulfill for the United States to lift sanctions, including the destruction of chemical weapons left over from the Assad regime.

On April 23, 2025, Jordan has outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, its most prominent opposition group, following the discovery of members’ involvement in a sabotage plot aimed at Jordanian authorities.

Interior Minister Mazin Fraya declared a complete ban on the group’s activities, stating that anyone promoting its ideology would face legal consequences.[1]

On April 16, 2025, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Grand Mufti of Libya, Sheikh Sadiq Al-Ghariani, condemned Arab countries like Egypt, Morocco, and the UAE for welcoming Israeli soldiers on leave for Passover as tourists, in a video posted on X. In the video, Al-Ghariani called on Muslims in Egypt and Morocco to kill Israeli soldiers vacationing in these countries during the holiday. He claimed that Israeli soldiers are “blood-shedding murderers” and not civilian tourists.

In-depth: From Beirut’s razed downtown to reconstructing its southern suburbs, war in Lebanon has long served as a pretext for elite-led urban transformation.

Lebanon, reeling from a war that inflicted an estimated $5.1 billion in economic losses, now faces the daunting task of reconstruction.

Syria’s government has spent the past few months putting much diplomatic energy into strengthening its relationships with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members.

The leadership in Damascus sees the oil- and gas-rich Gulf Arab states as extremely important to Syria’s future. The high-profile visits paid by President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar since early January are evidence of this.

Les awakes contre les wokes.

Allez, un petit dernier. Demain, j’arrête Satan. Pour ma défense, c’est lui qui est venu me chercher. Quand je l’ai vu arriver dans Les Survivantes il y a bientôt un an, je me suis dit : ça y est, la panique satanique débarque chez nous. Ayant étudié de près ce phénomène quand il est apparu aux États-Unis dans les années 1990, et la controverse des «faux souvenirs» qui s’en est suivie, et étant fasciné par les hypothèses «métapsychiques» qu’il suggère sur la porosité de l’esprit humain, je me suis senti responsable d’apporter un éclairage critique. (Voir ici, ici et ici mes trois articles sur ce film).

UK far-right activist Tommy Robinson, known for his anti-immigration stance, has been sentenced to 18 months for contempt of court following false allegations against Syrian refugee Jamal Hijazi, defying a 2021 injunction prohibiting further defamatory statements. Meanwhile, in Qamishli, Syria, large rallies led by the Democratic Union Party protested Turkish attacks on Kurdish-held areas, denouncing the strikes as an occupation. Additionally, an Iraqi militia group claimed responsibility for an alleged drone attack on the US al-Tanf base, though the Pentagon dismissed these reports. In other developments, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi denied SDF involvement in an Ankara attack attributed to the PKK, challenging Turkish airstrikes that have targeted vital Kurdish infrastructure. Lastly, a Times of Israel post by an anonymous Syrian author revealed an unlikely admiration for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or “Abu Yair,” as some Syrians in Idlib celebrated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s death in an Israeli airstrike—a stark shift for those who once viewed Israel solely through an adversarial lens.

In February 2025, US President Donald Trump designated a series of cartels as Specially Designated Global Terrorists and Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), including Tren de Aragua (TdA) and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), among others.

Previously, the US Treasury Department sanctioned MS-13 as a Transnational Criminal Organization under Executive Order 13581. The Trump administration similarly designated Foxtrot, which has been used by Iranian intelligence, under the same authority last month.

«Loin de ne concerner que le peuple palestinien, l’avenir de notre monde se joue en partie importante en Palestine … (car) l’hégémonie occidentale est confrontée à une série de résistances qui menacent la poursuite de son pillage du monde sur lequel est bâti son modèle économique». ~ Saïd Bouamama

Impressionnant par son grand format, par la qualité du papier, de la typographie, du graphisme, cet ouvrage de Saïd Bouamama, fruit d’années de recherches, doté de références exhaustives en plusieurs langues, extrêmement bien écrit et surtout non-idéologique sur l’essentiel, se trouve à être parmi les rares productions actuelles en Europe occidentale qui soient – du point de vue de Mendelssohn du moins – indispensable.