Middle East Experience

Whatever the outcome of Lebanon's protests, one thing is certain: Hezbollah will have to change if it wants to weather the storm.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Will Hezbollah ride or face Lebanon’s uprising?

Following Ankara's expulsion from the F-35 program, Turkish officials are looking to Moscow to upgrade Turkey's aging warplane fleet with Russian-made Su-35 jets.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Ankara in quiet negotiations to buy Russian Su-35 fighter jets

The statement by professor Mordechai Kedar about Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin not being assassinated by Yigal Amir should sound the alarm over the radicalization of the Israeli right wing and the proliferation of conspiracy theories.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Israel's far right advances conspiracy theory on Rabin’s murder

The Basra Museum displays around 2,200 objects from the Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian and Hellenistic eras — 100 of which were reportedly looted and returned to Iraq from Jordan and the United States.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Basra Museum struggles to keep Iraq's heritage at home

While Likud leaders don’t dispute Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc policy, a rebellious group within the party has launched a broad campaign against the alliance with the right-ultra-Orthodox parties.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Netanyahu’s opposition within the Likud

Recent geopolitical shifts in eastern Syria will affect western Anbar, given the porous Iraqi-Syrian border, the recently reopened Qaim-Abu Kamal crossing and scores of returning families.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Dangers persist as Iraqi border crossing opens and IDPs return

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Prince Turki bin Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud talks about the "dramatic effect" of the September attacks on the Saudi Arabia’s oil fields, and says there will be no official Saudi contacts with Israel until the Palestinian issue is resolved.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Saudi Arabia still awaiting signs of ‘goodwill’ from Iran

The Psagot winery has hired a former US ambassador to the EU to lobby against “settlement” labeling regulations.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Top Netanyahu donors’ West Bank winery seeks Trump’s help fighting EU

The United States government is saying little about Iran’s recent announcement it is sending a list of names for a possible prisoner swap, but there are signs of possible movement behind the scenes.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: US mum on Iran prisoner swap dangle

Iraqi protesters have had enough of Iran’s heavy hand, but don’t expect the Iranians to pack up and go home.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Iran not letting Iraq go without a fight