After 12 days of war between Israel and Iran, a ceasefire has brought a sense of cautious relief to the region. Even after almost 21 months of war in Gaza and its spillover into neighbouring countries, the latest escalation set a dangerous precedent that could provoke more cycles of warfare and destabilise the Middle East. The question is how did we reach this boiling point? The answer goes back decades, to a time even before the 1979 revolution in Iran when the country enjoyed a more co-operati...
Jun 27, 2025•27 min•Ep. 433
Up until last week, it seemed unthinkable for a UN member state to strike a nuclear site. But Israel did just that when it launched its attack on Iran, hitting military and atomic sites, and killing key figures of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It also seemed unthinkable for missiles to penetrate Israel’s Iron Dome and destroy infrastructure in cities such as Haifa and Tel Aviv. Yet again, civilians are paying the heaviest price. More than 240 people have been killed in Iran so far. In I...
Jun 20, 2025•25 min•Ep. 432
Canada, urging de-escalation of the conflict between Iran and Israel, but US President Donald Trump has already left, having warned that residents of Tehran "should immediately evacuate". Iran's reaction is one of the key issues on the agenda today. In this special episode of Beyond the Headlines, Geo-Economics Editor Manus Cranny asks Mina Al-Oraibi, Editor-in-Chief, and Mohamad Ali Harisi, Foreign Editor, for the inside view.
Jun 17, 2025•22 min•Ep. 431
In unusual public statement last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted “activating” Palestinian militias in Gaza. Acting on the advice of security officials, he said, it was a way to weaken Hamas and protect Israeli soldiers. The admission came after Israeli media reported that Mr Netanyahu had authorised the arming of a militia, known as the Abu Shabab Popular Forces, in the southern Gaza Strip. The group is named after its leader, Yasser Abu Shabab. Now, Hamas has a new riva...
Jun 13, 2025•23 min•Ep. 430
Too little, too late. This was the sentiment echoed among critics in the international community after Europe started taking a new, critical stance on Israel’s war in Gaza in recent weeks. For Palestinians actually in the strip, it is certainly too late, with the death toll from 19 months of war at more than 54,200. But what of the new stance itself? In late May, the EU announced it would launch a review of its relations with Israel. The move was backed by 17 of 27 states and could lead to a sus...
Jun 06, 2025•20 min•Ep. 429
Chaotic scenes unfolded in Gaza this week as large crowds gathered at aid hubs set up by a US and Israeli-backed organisation, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. After three months of an Israeli-imposed blockade on the enclave, hungry, desperate Palestinians stood behind fences, waiting to receive their share. Reports and videos quickly emerged showing people overrunning a hub in Rafah, the southernmost part of Gaza. At least four people died on the first day and dozens were injured, mostly by Is...
May 30, 2025•25 min•Ep. 428
Last week’s announcement by President Donald Trump on lifting US sanctions on Syria seemed to have a refreshing effect for a country that has been reeling from political divisions and economic turmoil. This week, the European Union followed, lifting all economic restrictions in a major diplomatic shift aimed at supporting Syria’s reconstruction and fragile peace. The news has been accompanied by more breakthroughs: the World Bank cleared Syria’s $15.5 million debt, paid off by Saudi Arabia and Q...
May 23, 2025•27 min•Ep. 427
US President Donald Trump has returned to Washington after sealing hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of investments on his first visit to the Gulf since returning to office. His stops in Riyadh, Doha and Abu Dhabi were marked by the announcements of huge deals encompassing everything from defence and aviation to chips and energy. But it wasn’t all business. Mr Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on Syria and meet interim president Ahmad Al Shara in Riyadh came as a surprise. The US leader al...
May 16, 2025•22 min•Ep. 426
Israel’s security cabinet has approved an expanded military offensive in Gaza that would push the entire population into a small pocket in the south of the strip. Shortly after the decision, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a bold message: the troops will be there to stay. Sources have told The National the plan will pave the way for Israel to seize the Gaza Strip and take control of aid in zones run by private security firms. The goal, Israel says, is to pressure the majority...
May 09, 2025•22 min•Ep. 425
During the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s administration, he has signed more executive orders than any other president in the same time span. They are part of his mandate to put "America first". But many of his foreign policy orders have also had a direct and immediate impact on the Middle East. He has frozen foreign aid, hitting countries like Egypt and Jordan that rely on US assistance. He has disrupted the admission of refugees into the US. He has imposed major tariffs on trading partners, ...
May 02, 2025•22 min•Ep. 424
In his last public address on Easter Sunday, Pope Francis called for an end to the violence in Gaza, calling the humanitarian situation there "dramatic and deplorable”. His message came only a day before his death. People all over the world mourned the death of the beloved Pontiff, but perhaps no place more than in Gaza, where Palestinian Christians fear they have lost a protector of their community. Already a dwindling minority, Christians in the strip have also been killed, injured and displac...
Apr 25, 2025•21 min•Ep. 423
When the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last year accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant of crimes against humanity, it seemed like a watershed moment. Global anger over Israel's war in Gaza had long been at boiling point, with people demanding justice for the victims of war. But to this day, they have not been arrested. At the same time, provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice in early 2024 oblig...
Apr 18, 2025•29 min•Ep. 422
The Lebanese civil war that broke out in 1975 marked a dark chapter in the country’s history and would have an impact on the region for decades afterwards. The conflict lasted for 15 years, as armed militias and their political sects battled for power. Alliances shifted over time and outside forces exploited the chaos for their own interests. An estimated 150,000 people were killed in the fighting and thousands went missing. The war depleted the country's public resources and caused turmoil for ...
Apr 11, 2025•38 min•Ep. 421
Simmering threats between Iran and the US are nearing their boiling point, after Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said this week that Tehran would retaliate if attacked. The heated tone comes after American President Donald Trump warned earlier that the US would bomb Iran and impose additional tariffs if it did not agree to a nuclear deal. Tit-for-tat warnings have sparked fears that Iran may be on the brink of weaponising its nuclear programme. Tensions have been brewing for the pas...
Apr 04, 2025•21 min•Ep. 420
Hundreds of people have taken part in protests in Gaza this week, in a rare act of dissent towards Hamas. Demonstrators called for an end to the group's rule of the enclave and the war with Israel. In videos shared on social media, protesters held placards that read “stop the war”, “we refuse to die” and “the blood of our children is not cheap”. Frustration towards Hamas has grown after a speech by the son of a Hamas leader who said: "We don’t have a white cloth to raise a flag of surrender, but...
Mar 28, 2025•23 min•Ep. 419
Israel unilaterally ended the ceasefire in Gaza, with bombs raining down on the strip this week, killing more than 400 people within hours. Many children were reportedly among the dead. By Wednesday, Israeli troops resumed ground operations to retake control of a key corridor that divides northern Gaza from the south. Palestinians in the enclave were once again plunged into a bleak reality dominated by fear, death and displacement. They had hoped that their brief respite would become permanent, ...
Mar 21, 2025•17 min•Ep. 418
The UK's National Crime Agency has been intensifying its campaign to crack down on people smugglers operating in the Iraqi Kurdish region. Thousands of Iraqi Kurds make the risky journey each year trying to reach Europe and the UK. Many are smuggled there on crowded, ill-equipped boats across dangerous seas in search of a better life. A months-long investigation by The National traced direct links between some of the most notorious smuggler gangs operating from Kurdish towns in Iraq, and in Fran...
Mar 13, 2025•24 min•Ep. 417
A resolution adopted by Arab states to rebuild Gaza has been met with praise across the region after 15 months of a brutal war that has battered the strip, but a difficult path lies ahead. The Egypt-led plan lays out a phased reconstruction effort that ensures Palestinians remain in Gaza. It was drawn up in response to a deeply controversial project for the strip that US President Donald Trump announced last month. The $53 billion plan proposes establishing a technocratic committee unaffiliated ...
Mar 07, 2025•24 min•Ep. 416
Israel’s army deployed tanks in the West Bank for the first time in 20 years this week, bulldozing streets, destroying infrastructure and conducting mass arrests in the process. More than 40,000 Palestinians from the refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams have been forced to flee their homes indefinitely after Defence Minister Israel Katz said troops would remain there for the coming year. Israeli officials have said their campaign is about combating terrorism. But the military offensive ...
Feb 28, 2025•23 min•Ep. 415
After President Trump stated that the US would “take over” Gaza, Egypt has come up with a counter-proposal for reconstruction of the war-ravaged territory that would not displace Gazans into neighbouring countries. Under the plan, revealed this week by The National and set to be presented at an emergency summit in Riyadh on Friday, safe zones would be established while essential services are restored and temporary shelters set up. Other important details include the creation of an independent Pa...
Feb 21, 2025•18 min•Ep. 414
On February 14, 2005, a massive explosion ripped through the heart of downtown Beirut, killing the former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri and 21 others. In a targeted attack, a bomb had detonated just as his motorcade drove near the St George Hotel, along Beirut's seafront. The killing of one of Lebanon's dominant political figures sent shockwaves across the country. Tensions had been simmering with Syria as it exerted its growing influence in Lebanese affairs, maintaining a military presen...
Feb 14, 2025•20 min•Ep. 413
During a media conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this week, US President Donald Trump said his country would take ownership of Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”. It is not the first time Mr Trump has made provocative statements about Gaza since starting his second term in office, but this may be his most controversial yet. He also claimed that Palestinians did not want to live in Gaza because it was in such a dire state, suggesting ...
Feb 07, 2025•21 min•Ep. 412
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, was this week ordered to stop its operations in occupied East Jerusalem, three months after Israel’s parliament voted to ban it. UNRWA is the main provider of humanitarian aid and other public services for Palestinians. In East Jerusalem, it runs 12 facilities that provide critical public services, including schools where more than 1,200 children are enrolled and free clinics that serve more than 70,000 people. But the impact of the ban would extend...
Jan 31, 2025•20 min•Ep. 411
Days after the guns fell silent in Gaza, violence erupted less than 200km away in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin. Israel’s military deployed tanks, snipers and special forces in the city on Tuesday, where it began an operation named “Iron Wall”, cracking down on what it described as terrorists within the Iranian axis. But videos have surfaced showing unarmed Palestinians being shot by Israeli forces. Twelve people have been killed in the raid so far and scores more injured. At the same tim...
Jan 24, 2025•21 min•Ep. 410
Four years after his first term, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th US president, marking his second inauguration as one of America’s most unpredictable leaders. An ocean away in the Middle East, where war, regime changes and power shifts have altered the political landscape forever, all eyes will be on the new president to see how he will shape his foreign policy in the region. Mr Trump walks into office with a Gaza ceasefire already in effect, earning him a great deal of credibility wit...
Jan 20, 2025•24 min•Ep. 409
Cheers echoed through the streets of Gaza on Wednesday night, even before a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was finally announced. Much-needed respite appears to be in sight after 15 months of almost uninterrupted bombing, death and destruction. But the jubilant reaction of Gazans stands in stark contrast to the bleak environment that surrounds them – their homes destroyed, their loved ones maimed, killed or missing and their livelihoods crushed. Gaza, as it once was, no longer exis...
Jan 17, 2025•23 min•Ep. 408
An entire month has passed since Syria’s Bashar Al Assad was overthrown by rebel groups and much has happened since. Prison dungeons of the former regime were unlocked, freeing political prisoners held by Assad enforcers. Families torn apart by war were reunited. Refugees have begun to return home and commercial flights to and from Damascus have eventually resumed. But there’s also much anxiety over what comes next as Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) takes charge as the de facto temporary power. Its l...
Jan 10, 2025•22 min•Ep. 407
On a tense Saturday night in Jenin in the occupied West Bank, Shatha Al Sabbagh went over to the grocery store with her mother, neighbour and nephews. On her way out, she was shot in the neck and killed. She was a young journalist, only 21 years old. Her family has blamed her death on the Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces. But the PA rejects the accusation, saying instead that she was killed by militants in the area. About a dozen people have died so far amid clashes in the Jenin refuge...
Jan 03, 2025•29 min•Ep. 406
There’s no doubt that the events of 2024 have changed the Middle East. Israel’s continued war in Gaza has caused a ripple effect across the region. Multi-front conflicts over the past year have stoked the rise and fall of non-state actors backed by Iran. The geopolitical impacts of this are already starting to materialise, some concerning and others promising. The question of Palestine – unresolved for decades – has become an international priority as more countries recognise it officially as a ...
Dec 27, 2024•23 min•Ep. 405
When Dr Mohamed Abdou joined Columbia University, he was thrilled to be in the company of renowned scholars of the Middle East. What he did not expect was that he would learn of what Columbia called his termination through a congressional hearing broadcast on live TV, only a few months later. Now, he is suing Columbia University and its former president – and his case is not isolated. Dr Abdou is among several professors and faculty at various universities across the US who say they have faced d...
Dec 20, 2024•15 min•Ep. 404
