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Middle East
21st Century Poetry / 6 May 2026
6 May 2026

by Mohammed Yasser Al-Batniji

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Book Review / 6 May 2026
6 May 2026

RUTH AYLETT recommends that this mixture of memoir, diary and poetry by a young Gazan writer be read as widely as possible

A man stands in the water, appearing to fish, as bulk carriers, cargo ships, and service vessels line the horizon in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, April 27, 2026
Middle East / 4 May 2026
4 May 2026
A woman holds up pictures of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, left, and his father, the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a state-organised rally, in Tehran, Iran, April 29, 2026
Middld East / 30 April 2026
30 April 2026

Lebanon’s President Aoun calls for international action to force Israel to ‘stop targeting civilians, paramedics, civil defence, and humanitarian’ workers

A Revolutionary Guard Navy speedboat approaches the cargo ship Epaminondas during the seizure of one of two vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, April 21, 2026
Middle East / 28 April 2026
28 April 2026
Displaced people who fled Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon sit outside shelter tents in Beirut, Lebanon, April 24, 2026
Middle East / 28 April 2026
28 April 2026
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (left) meets with Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 25, 2026. Photo: Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP
Middle East / 26 April 2026
26 April 2026
Milad telecommunication tower is seen at left in a general view of a part of Tehran, Iran, April 23, 2026
Middle East / 24 April 2026
24 April 2026
US President Donald Trump speaks with reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, after he returned from Miami, April 12, 2026
Anti-War / 21 April 2026
21 April 2026

CND and the Stop the War Coalition are calling for a mass protest this Saturday to end British complicity in illegal US strikes at RAF Fairford. SOPHIE BOLT explains

The sun rises behind tankers anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Qeshm Island, Iran, April 18, 2026
Middle East / 19 April 2026
19 April 2026
Backdropped by ships in the Strait of Hormuz, damage, according to local witnesses caused by several recent airstrikes during the U.S.-Israel military campaign, is seen on a fishing pier in the port of Qeshm island, Iran, April 13, 2026
Middle East / 17 April 2026
17 April 2026
Assem Abdallah reacts as he enters his friend apartment destroyed in a Israeli airstrike in Kfar Roumman, southern Lebanon, Friday, April 17, 2026, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah
Middle East / 18 April 2026
18 April 2026

Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon is just the latest of its recurring cycles of aggression in the region, says VIJAY PRASHAD

READ OUR LIPS: Jewish Voice for Peace protesters block traffic during a demonstration outside the New York office of US Senator Chuck Schumer on Monday, April 13
US Imperialism / 18 April 2026
18 April 2026

DIANE ABBOTT looks at how a declining US has resorted to globalised violence to salvage any vestiges of political and economic hegemony

Eliana Abi Nassif, 2, holds a doll next to her family's tent used as a shelter after fleeing Israeli bombardment in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, in Beirut, April 15, 2026
Middle East / 16 April 2026
16 April 2026
Palestinian students walk to school along a fence separating their village from a nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Carmel, which forces them to take an alternative route nearly twice as long, near the West Bank village of Umm al-Khair, April 14, 2026
Middle East / 17 April 2026
17 April 2026

Bezalel Smotrich’s measures to extend Israeli property law into the West Bank are a continuation of a decades-long project to dispossess Palestinians and preclude statehood, argues HUGH LANNING 

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on the village of Henniyeh, as it is seen from the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, April 15, 2026
Middle East / 16 April 2026
16 April 2026

As war engulfs Iran, many expected China to step in as a rising superpower. Instead, Beijing has chosen diplomacy over confrontation – revealing a very different vision of global leadership, argues JENNY CLEGG

A cargo ship sails in the Persian Gulf towards Dubai port as seen from Ajman, United Arab Emirates, April 14, 2026
Middle East / 14 April 2026
14 April 2026
Israeli bulldozers demolish homes in southern Lebanon, as seen from northern Israel, April 12, 2026
Middle East / 15 April 2026
15 April 2026

Israel's brutality in Lebanon, combined with efforts to draw the Lebanese government into negotiations, are part of a strategy to delegitimise resistance to occupation and apartheid, argues RAMZY BAROUD