Orientul Mijlociu

Abstract: Al-Qaida has evolved considerably over the past four decades. Today, it is no longer a hierarchical organization with charismatic leadership, but rather a decentralized network of franchise groups dispersed throughout Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and beyond. The group has not conducted spectacular external operations (EXOPS) for many years, but instead has been focused on patiently rebuilding, dedicating its resources and manpower to forging relationships with regional affiliates and championing their grievances, which are often locally focused. Al-Qaida Central, including its senior leadership, has been attenuated, but the organization’s branches in Somalia and the Sahel are gaining momentum, and there is growing concern that al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is also looking to rebound. All of this is occurring against a backdrop of decline in the overall tempo of Western counterterrorism efforts, signaling the end of more than two decades of the Global War on Terrorism. Even in its diminished form, 24 years after the 9/11 attacks, al-Qaida and its global network of affiliates pose a serious latent security threat, including to the West, which takes these groups for granted at its own peril.

Syria’s transitional government is cracking down on the production of Captagon — an illicit synthetic stimulant that flourished under the sponsorship of the Bashar al-Assad regime until its fall in December. But production and trade of the drug are continuing, particularly in parts of Syria not yet under the control of the new administration.

Environ 50 000 anciens membres de l’État islamique (EI) et leurs familles sont actuellement détenus dans 27 prisons et centres de détention à travers le Nord-Est de la Syrie. Ils ont été les théâtres, au fil des années, de tentatives d’évasion, dont certaines ont abouti à la libération de djihadistes qui sont ensuite venus renforcer les rangs du groupe terroriste.

The Lebanese government’s efforts to secure a monopoly over weapons are advancing, but can it ignore Iran?

The decision of the Lebanese government on August 5* to officially endorse the state’s monopoly over weapons was an important milestone. Yet it was also incomplete, because it didn’t really address a dimension that has been largely overlooked in public statements, namely that, today, Hezbollah’s weapons are effectively controlled by Iran.

Knitting law and politics together into a constitution that serves as a repository of hard-won agreements is a matter of trust and bargaining, rather than foresight. But Syria’s will need both.

In March 2025, interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa issued a constitutional declaration to govern the country’s transitional phase. The goals inferred were clear: to assure Syrians that order and justice would be restored, that their rights would be recognized, and that the Syrian president would guide the country away from its dark experience with oppressive dictatorship.

Hizbullah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said in an address aired on Al-Araby TV (Qatar) on September 19, 2025, that Saudi Arabia should turn a new leaf with the resistance. He called for dialogue that addresses problems and fears and is based on the principle that Israel – not the resistance – is the enemy. He urged freezing past disagreements so the focus can shift to confronting Israel. Qassem added that pressure on the resistance only benefits Israel, warning that if the resistance did not exist, these countries would eventually be targeted. He said that the resistance in Palestine serves as a dam against Israeli expansion.

On September 16, 2025, Lebanese Islamic scholar Sheikh Khaldoun Arimat said on Al-Manar TV (Hizbullah-Lebanon) that the conflict with Israel is an existential one. Speaking on behalf of the Grand Mufti of Lebanon, Abdul Latif Derian, Arimat said that Muslims fought the Crusaders for 200 years and that they are only at the beginning of their war with the “Zionist enemy,” even if it takes centuries. He stressed that Muslims will continue to believe that all of Palestine, from the River to the Sea, is an endowment land that belongs to Allah. Arimat concluded by saying that these are dreams – but dreams often come true.

A forensic investigation of 219 killings in two years of war points to Israel’s deliberate targeting of reporters to suppress the truth about its assault on the enclave

More than 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the start of Israel’s war on the Palestinian enclave. So who were these journalists? Under what circumstances did they die? And were they deliberately targeted by Israel in an attempt to suppress the truth about what is going on in Gaza?

Israel’s increasing attacks to undermine the possibility mean that no action is too small or without consequence

Palestinian hopes for achieving an independent state comprising the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem have been lifted by France, Britain, Portugal, Canada, Australia and a number of other countries formally recognising the state of Palestine in recent days, after nearly 80 years of its existence.

Following the deadly clashes that broke out in July 2025 in Syria’s Al-Suwayda governorate between Druze factions and Bedouin tribes, which resulted in the death of over 1,000 Druze, Egyptian journalists and writers published articles claiming that the Al-Sharaa regime, which supported the Bedouin tribes during the clashes, is a terrorist ISIS-like regime that only pretends to be moderate and egalitarian. The slogans uttered by Syrian President Al-Sharaa about democracy and freedom, they said, are aimed at gaining temporary Western support for his regime – a regime which in practice is no different from extremist Islamist organizations like ISIS and Al-Qaeda that seek to establish an Islamic caliphate and do not hesitate to use terrorism to achieve this. The writers harshly condemned the massacres carried out by Al-Sharaa’s supporters against Syria’s Alawite and Druze minorities, and warned that these actions endanger Syria’s unity and the stability of the region as a whole.