Beyond the Headlines

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 leader Ahmed Al Shara and his newly appointed interim government have no shortage of challenges ahead. How will they dissolve all of Syria’s armed factions, run essential services and pave the way for accountability and justice? At the same time, there are already concerns that the caretaker government may be overstepping its mandate and making institutional changes that it should not be making until a constitution is drafted and free elections are held, but this could take years. In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher speaks to Mutasem Syoufi, executive director of The Day After, and Rahaf Aldoughli, a lecturer in Middle East and North African studies at the UK's Lancaster University, to examine the decisions of the interim HTS authority as it navigates the transition towards a new Syria.

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 refugee camp since PA security forces began a raid there last month that they say clamps down on outlaws with outstanding arrest warrants for murder, theft and other crimes. But on the inside, another version of events comes to light. The PA’s crackdown has stirred anger among some of the residents who say authorities are trying to crush their so-called “Palestinian resistance”. The PA has dismissed this, telling The National that they are only targeting Iran-linked militants hiding under the umbrella of legitimate resistance. Critics of the PA have been frustrated over its inaction as the war rages on in Gaza and Israeli military and settler violence rises across the West Bank. So why is the PA cracking down on Palestinians in their darkest hour? On Beyond the Headlines this week, host Nada AlTaher looks back at how and why the raid on Jenin began a month ago. She speaks to Palestinian political analyst Khalil Sayegh and senior Palestine analyst at Crisis Group Tahani Mustafa, about who the PA is targeting and why now. They discuss how the events in Jenin will affect the PA’s role in the West Bank and its survival in a future Palestinian state.

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 state. In Lebanon and Syria, power dynamics are shifting after the weakening of Hezbollah and the fall of president Bashar Al Assad. At the same time, Israel is seizing territories across its border in unprecedented land grabs. And Iran’s role in the region has arrived at a critical crossroads as its proxy project begins to falter. For the millions in the Arab world, a sense of apprehension is overshadowed only by the extreme fatigue of bearing witness to unbearable human suffering. But there’s also hope, dim as it may be, as talks inch closer to a ceasefire in Gaza. In the last episode of Beyond the Headlines this year, host Nada AlTaher speaks to The National’s foreign editor Mohamad Ali Harisi to reflect on the most significant events in the Middle East that defined 2024 and how they might shape the region in 2025.

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 disciplinary action for their stance on Palestine. One legal aid group focusing on cases related to Palestine activism told The National it has received nearly 3,000 requests related to the suppression of Palestinian rights advocacy on campuses across the US since October 7 last year. On this episode of Beyond the Headlines, we are peering into a lingering remnant of anti-war protests that shook college campuses in the US and around the world last spring.

Syria's Bashar Al Assad has fled the country after rebels took over Damascus. Prisoners who had been kept in the dark for decades were finally freed from notorious and brutal jails. People were reunited with loved ones who had disappeared years ago. Syrian embassies around the world raised what were once opposition flags. And officials close to Assad made their first public criticisms of his rule. Now, the future of the country is at stake. And because of long-held international interests in Syria’s political assets – Iran in the Assad regime, Turkey in Kurdish strongholds, the US in ISIS positions. Israel on the border – all eyes are on how Hayat Tahrir Al Sham is going to handle this delicate moment in its history. In this week’s Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher looks at what’s next in Syria after Assad, and how this will impact the Middle East as the balances of power shift, featuring views from Hussein Ibish, senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, and Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel.

Renewed fighting in Syria has ended a period of relative calm in the country after rebel groups launched a surprise offensive last week and took over the country's second biggest city, Aleppo. Syrian government forces also said they had withdrawn on Thursday from Hama, a strategic city with supply lines to loyalist coastal strongholds. Led by the militant group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, the rebels took only about two days to seize Aleppo. Syrian government and Russian jets carried out counterstrikes soon after, bombing the rebel-held city of Idlib in the north-west of the country. Syria’s civil war started in 2011 after protests against President Bashar Al Assad’s rule were met with a brutal crackdown, turning into a bloody war since then. Vast areas of the country were eventually reclaimed by the government, including until last week Aleppo. Much of the north-west fell under the hold of various rebel groups, including Hayat Tahrir. In 2020 a truce was brokered by Turkey and Russia bringing the fighting to a standstill but this fragile status quo has now been broken. The timing, the scale and the speed of the offensive have sent shockwaves across the region. With so many international actors also involved in the conflict - Russia, Iran and Turkey to name a few - many questions loom over what this rebellion means and what will happen next. Host Nada AlTaher speaks to The National’s Turkey-based correspondent Lizzie Porter, and to Orwa Ajjoub, Syria researcher and PhD candidate at Malmo University. They discuss how the latest events could change dynamics on the ground.

Lebanon celebrated a rare moment of joy as displaced families began to return to their homes after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect on Wednesday. The people breathed a sigh of relief – for now. Almost 4.000 people have been killed in Israel’s war in Lebanon and about 1.2 million displaced. Entire villages have been wiped off the map. After Hamas launched its deadly October 7 attack last year, prompting a devastating military response by Israel on Gaza, Lebanon’s Hezbollah engaged in the fighting almost immediately. It began launching rockets towards Israel, igniting an exchange of fire across their shared border. The world warned against allowing the war in Gaza to spill over into the rest of the region, but that's what happened. Israel launched a ground invasion into Lebanon in late September and carried out a devastating bombing campaign. The war seemed to have no clear end in sight – until now. A US-brokered deal came through at the last minute on Tuesday evening, amid heavy Israeli bombardment across Beirut. It maps out the terms of a 60-day truce that is designed to become a permanent ceasefire. The question is, will it last? In this episode of Beyond The Headlines, host Nada AlTaher examines how the terms of the agreement will translate on the ground and whether the deal could lead to a ceasefire in Gaza. We hear from The National’s foreign editor Mohamad Ali Harisi and from David Wood, senior analyst for Lebanon at the Crisis Group.

More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since last October, with Israel intensifying its attacks since September, launching a ground invasion into the country and an air strike campaign that has caused much destruction. Its bombings have become more unpredictable in scale and location, forcing masses to flee their homes.   More than 1.2 million people have been displaced since Israel escalated its war. Several hundred thousand, many of them already refugees, have fled across the border to Syria despite the risks they face there.   The spillover war from Gaza is wreaking havoc on a population that had already been grappling with years of economic and political turmoil. The Lebanese state’s resources are far too strained to cope with the scale of displacement and there are not nearly enough organised shelters. For vulnerable minorities in the country, including Syrian refugees and migrant workers, the conditions are even more challenging.   Israel says it is attacking Hezbollah, but its campaign has provoked widespread international condemnation because of the high civilian toll. This week, US envoy Amos Hochstein is in the Middle East in an attempt to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah. That cannot come soon enough for the hundreds of thousands of displaced people. But what would those who have lost their homes and their livelihoods return to?   This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher looks at the deepening displacement crisis in Lebanon and its impact on the future of the country and its people. She speaks to the head of the International Organisation for Migration in Lebanon, Mathieu Luciano, and Prof Mona Fawaz from the American University of Beirut.

Donald Trump will return to the White House in January as the 47th American president, and the Middle East is waiting to see whether and how he can end the wars in the region. Many Palestinians in Gaza say they are not optimistic about the new US administration and worry the situation might take a turn for the worse after Mr Trump is inaugurated. Their concerns are rooted in decisions he made during his first term as president when he moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and cut more than $200 million in funding to the UN refugee agency UNRWA. He also revealed his Peace to Prosperity plan to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict in 2020. But it was strongly rejected by Palestinians, not only because it was drawn up without their input, but also because it revoked important rights that Palestinians have been asking for and allowed for illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank to be incorporated into Israel. But the political landscape in the Middle East today is drastically different from four years ago and Mr Trump has a lot of new factors to consider. At the same time, he is viewed as a transactional leader and a dealmaker who may be more capable of ending the war. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher speaks to Dalal Iriqat, associate professor of diplomacy at the Arab American University Palestine, and to Ghaith Al-Omari, senior fellow at the Washington Institute, about what a Trump presidency could mean for Palestinians in the short and long term. They discuss how his policies might change in his second term and whether there can be any prospect for peace and security in Palestine, Israel and the region.

Israel continues to bombard Gaza and Lebanon. It is launching strikes in Syria. But between Tel Aviv and Tehran, there’s an eerie silence. The latest round of attacks between the two came from Israel late last month, hitting military sites linked to Iran’s ballistic missile programme. Four soldiers and a civilian were killed, Iran said. Analysts believe Tehran's ballistic missile capabilities, drone production and air defences were seriously damaged. This came in response to Iran launching its attack on Israel on October 1. With its response, the fear that Israel would hit back at Iran’s nuclear or oil centres has been put to rest, at least for now. Israel’s strikes nevertheless prompted criticism from Arab states, including the GCC. The UAE strongly condemned them and expressed deep concern over the repercussions for security and stability in the region. Saudi Arabia called them a “violation of sovereignty” and international law, urging all parties to exercise maximum restraint. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, has recently been on tour across the Middle East. He said that he received guarantees from regional neighbours that neither their soil nor air spaces would be used to allow any attacks on Iran. But Tehran has vowed to respond again. A continuous cycle of strikes poses a serious risk to the region and the world at large, potentially dragging the US and Arab states into a conflict that none of them wants. On this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher speaks to The National’s military affairs reporter Robert Tollast about the effect of Israel’s strikes on Iran. She also talks with Dr Hasan Alhasan from the International Institute for Strategic Studies to investigate Iran’s relationship with its Arab neighbours amid regional escalations.