By Suha Abrahim The US is planning to establish a military presence at a Damascus airbase to enable security agreements between Israel and Syria. Mediated by the US, the base is expected to make up a demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria. The US already has troop presence in eastern Syria to back the Syrian Democratic... Continue Reading →
By Suha Abrahim On November 11th, Iraqis are heading to the polls again since the last 2021 election. Voter turnout is expected to be at its lowest since post 2003. Turnout is expected to range from forty to twenty-five percent. The Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission has accepted 7,768 candidates to run for parliament, including 5,520 men... Continue Reading →
By Suha Abrahim On Tuesday night, the Knesset voted on two separate bills, one to annex the Maale Adumim settlement and to apply Israeli sovereignty to all illegally occupied West Bank settlements. Both bills passed the preliminary reading, the former 32-9 and the latter 25-24. Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party boycotted the votes, with the only supporter from... Continue Reading →
By Suha Abrahim The announcement of Trump's 20-point peace plan is said to end Israel’s war in Gaza immediately. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted the peace plan but was still awaiting a response from Hamas at the time. Hamas, eventually responding late Friday, announced it was ready to release the remaining hostages as long as... Continue Reading →
By Suha Abrahim Twenty-Four hours after the strike in Doha, capital of Qatar, Israel carried out strikes in Sanaa the capital of Yemen and al-Jawf governate. Yemen’s ministry of health confirmed that thirty-five people have been killed and 131 injured. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated these strikes were in response to a drone strike by the Houthis earlier... Continue Reading →
By Abby Bedard In a rare display of public dissent, a string of protests broke out across Gaza this week. The protests came a week after Israel ended the ceasefire by once again launching airstrikes on the enclave, killing 409 Gazans in a single day, with thousands more wounded, making it one of the deadliest... Continue Reading →
By Abby Bedard The Israel-Hamas ceasefire hangs by a thread amid accusations that both sides have violated the agreed upon terms. Earlier last week, Hamas announced their intent to delay the hostage release scheduled for Saturday, claiming that Israel failed to deliver necessary aid, such as tents and heavy machinery and continues to carry out... Continue Reading →
By Abby Bedard Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s de facto leader since the fall of Assad late last year, was recently appointed president of Syria for a transitional period. A slew of other announcements followed, including the dissolution of the Syrian constitution, Bashar al-Assad’s Baath party, the Syrian military and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), al-Sharaa’s own organization.... Continue Reading →
By Abby Bedard Saturday, February 1st saw the fourth hostage-prisoner exchange of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. 183 Palestinian prisoners were exchanged for three Israeli hostages, Ofer Kalderon, Yarden Bibas and Keith Siegel. Hamas handed the hostages over to the Red Cross in two choreographed events in Khan Younis and Gaza City. The exchanges went forward... Continue Reading →
By Abigail N. Bedard On Thursday, November 21st, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, and Hamas Commander, Mohammed Deif. In their statement, the ICC accused Netanyahu and Gallant of “crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023... Continue Reading →
The Patterson Journal of International Affairs 