According to the Department of Justice, in the early 1990s, the Muslim Brotherhood, planned to establish a network of organizations in the US to spread a militant Islamist message and raise money for Hamas. The Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) became the chief fundraising arm for the Palestine Committee in the US, created by the MB to support Hamas. In 2008, HLF leaders were convicted of crimes, including providing material support for Hamas.
The demonstrations organized by the Druze community in Suwayda, demanding the right to self-determination and declaring independence from Syria, were neither a fleeting episode nor a simple reaction to the brutal crackdown launched by the transitional authority in Damascus last July. That assault on the Mount of Druze claimed thousands of deaths and grave human rights violations, leaving enduring scars on the community.
A recent article by Dr. Ahmed Muwaffaq Zaidan on Al Jazeera, urging the dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, has stirred debate. Some welcomed the idea as a way to move beyond a long-burdensome legacy; others saw it as a worrying signal of exclusion at a moment that calls for unity.
Launched at the 2023 Group of Twenty (G20) summit in New Delhi, the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) features three pillars that integrate existing and future infrastructure: a transportation pillar—the corridor’s backbone—integrating rail and maritime networks, an energy pillar with interconnected energy and electricity infrastructure across continents, and a digital pillar providing new fiber-optic cables and cross-border digital infrastructure.
On August 18, Hamas accepted a new cease-fire proposal for the war in Gaza. The deal, which had just been presented by Egypt and Qatar and closely echoed earlier proposals shaped by the United States that Israel had backed without approving, called for the release of ten of the remaining 20 living Israeli captives in exchange for a 60-day truce. Unlike previous such proposals, Hamas did not request any changes to the document and accepted it within hours. So far, Israel has not accepted the proposal.
Authoritarian leaders propel insanity and dystopian supremacy using democracy to shield their crimes against humanity. A hybrid culture, part human and part vulture. The Arab-Muslim world lives in fantasy as puppets as paper boys claiming to be negotiating peace but cannot mold nor mourn as Israel occupies more lands and disables neighboring Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan and to overrun Saudi Arabia for a Greater Israel. What is at stake? The global humanity is being marginalized and threatened by just two figures lacking effective leadership and accountability for the consequences of their sadistic thinking. President Trump and PM Netanyahu would deny the emerging plan for “Greater Israel” but coordinate and solidify its top priority for the conquest of the whole Arab Middle East. The Arab-Muslim leaders do not exist on a rational plateau of thoughts and actions. The on-going genocide against the people of Gaza for 23 months: continuous aerial bombardments, killing of people by planned starvation, attacks on places of worship, hospitals, journalists, UNRWA’s schools and so-called safe zones, data tells more than 62,000 lives are gone and more than 100K are injured and disabled and some 12k people or so still buried under the rubble. How would you imagine a world of peace and harmony on this earth? PM Netanyahu claims“starvation it is not the policy of Israel and famine in Gaza is not true.” The UN Secretary General condemns it: “Israel is using starvation as a weapon to punish the people of Gaza.” The civic societies in Israel demonstrate daily against PM Netanyahu’s policies and practices and ask for an end to the war on Gaza and freedom of hostages.
On the streets of Tehran, the oppressive heat continues, with a drought and water crisis putting the city of 10 million under pressure. The 12-day war between Israel and Iran may have ended in June, but nerves are frayed.
Some Iranians have fled abroad, while others have returned from their Caspian Sea hideaways or rural relatives to a capital that doesn’t quite feel like itself, despite numerous official attempts to portray the country as being back to normal.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) was conspicuously absent during the unprecedented 12-day June war with Israel.
Its fighter jets are so antiquated that, with a few exceptions, the Israeli Air Force largely left them alone.
With another round of hostilities seemingly inevitable, and having waited in vain for Su-35 Flanker fighters it ordered from Russia years ago, the question of whether Iran will turn to China to modernise its air force is arguably more relevant than ever.
