Orientul Mijlociu

In the uneasy interstice between war and peace, Syria grapples with a question striking at the heart of national sovereignty, social cohesion, and institutional legitimacy: what to do with thousands of foreign jihadist fighters who can neither be expelled nor ignored. The recent move to integrate roughly 3,500 of these militants—most notably from the Uyghur-dominated Turkistan Islamic Party—into a new military division has ignited fierce political, ethical and security debates. While some frame this as a pragmatic solution for battle-hardened fighters with no repatriation options, others see it as a dangerous compromise that could erode Syria’s fragile foundations.

In a wide-ranging talk, former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford traced the astonishing political transformation unfolding in Damascus: from a 14-year civil war and the December 2024 collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime to the rise of Ahmed al-Sharaa—a former jihadist commander now serving as Syria’s transitional president.

The collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024 marked a watershed moment in Middle Eastern geopolitics. Abrupt and largely unforeseen by both regional and international actors, Assad’s fall brought an end to decades of autocratic rule and the relative stability that had defined Syria since Hafez al-Assad seized power in 1970.

The Government of East Turkestan in exile has issued a stark warning against recent efforts to integrate Chinese Uyghur fighters into the newly restructured Syrian army, calling the move a dangerous geopolitical ploy that risks distorting the Uyghur people’s legitimate struggle for independence.

The first presidential trip of US President Donald J. Trump’s second term was welcomed with lavish celebrations by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

During the visit, these Gulf states committed to investing around $2 trillion through technology and defence deals with American companies, strengthening their economic and political partnerships with the US.

Alors que l’Afrique redevient un enjeu stratégique mondial, l’infiltration croissante d’Israël du continent révèle un agenda aligné sur l’hégémonie occidentale, l’exploitation et l’érosion de la solidarité traditionnelle envers la Palestine.

Less than a year ago, U.S. law enforcement uncovered a plot by the Islamic Republic of Iran to kill President Donald Trump. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been conspiring with hitmen to target and gun down Americans on U.S. soil for many years. “That simply won’t be tolerated,” the FBI said when it revealed the plot. Now is the time to ensure these words are matched by deeds.

The number of nuclear warheads ready for use by nine countries has slightly increased from last year, reaching over 9,600 warheads, according to a Japanese think tank’s report.

Russia, the United States and China remain the world’s three largest countries in terms of the size of their nuclear arsenals. Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Department of Defense, the Chinese Defense Ministry and the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

Located among the sprawling dunes of Israel’s southern desert is a central component of what Avner Cohen calls his country’s “worst kept secret.”

The Negev Nuclear Research Center, officially renamed in 2018 after late Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and often referred to by the name of the nearby city of Dimona, is widely known to be the complex where Israel first underwent the project to obtain nuclear weapons back in the late 1950s.

Introduction

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is an Islamist political and militant group mainly operating in Syria’s Greater Idleb area, which includes parts of Aleppo’s western countryside, the Lattakia mountains, and al-Ghab Plain in northwestern Hama. HTS leadership was historically composed of both Syrian and foreign Islamists, with links to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda. However, the group’s current identity is largely Syrian Islamist, reflecting a pragmatic shift in its strategic goals. HTS has rebranded itself from a former transnational Salafi-Jihadi group to a more localized Islamist group that at times targets and clashes with other radical Islamist groups such as the Islamic State and the al-Qaeda-affiliated Hurras-al-Din. With this change, the group has increasingly sought to cultivate a more moderate public image.