Documents & Memoirs | Al Majalla

The last days of Ali Abdullah Saleh

Based on years of reporting and interviews, this account reconstructs how Yemen's former president forged an alliance with the Houthis, why it collapsed, and the events that led to his death

Anwar Al-Ansi 27 July 2026

Thousands of Yemenis hold posters and portraits of Yemen's ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh during a rally in support of the former president on 24 August 2017.

AFP

Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881 - 1938, left), and Reza Shah (1879 - 1944), Shah of Persia, hold a historic meeting in Ankara, the new capital of Turkey, 1934.

Getty Images

This day in history: Persia renamed ‘Iran’

The precedent for altering a country's name was set decades ago but the reasons for doing it can be very different

Sami Moubayed 21 March 2023

A movement based on Arab nationalism took control of Syria in 1963 and went on to shape the politics of the region for decades after.

Andrei Cojocaru

This day in history: The Ba’ath Party comes to power in Syria

A movement based on Arab nationalism took control of Syria in 1963 and went on to shape the politics of the region for decades after

Sami Moubayed 07 March 2023

President Nixon meets with Communist Party Chairman Mao Tse-Tung in Peking, during his 1972 visit to China.

Getty Images

51 years after Nixon’s groundbreaking visit, China-US relations at an all-time low

The Chinese spy balloon incident, as well as Beijing's cosy relationship with Moscow, have soured already tense relations

Sami Moubayed 01 March 2023

The architects of the 1913 coup were officers from the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP)

Jamie Wignall

The coup that brought down the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman coups inspired similar coups against leaders in Iran, Iraq and Syria

Sami Moubayed 28 February 2023

Members of Lebanon's movement Hezbollah on March 1, 2016, in the southern town of Kfour in the Nabatiyeh district, during the funeral of a Hezbollah fighter, who was killed while fighting a longside Syrian government forces in Syria

Getty Images

Damascus Documents reveal story behind creation of Hezbollah

Al Majalla obtains Damascus Documents which reveal how Iran founded Hezbollah in Lebanon in the 1980s

Ibrahim Hamidi 26 February 2023

British wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, left, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, center, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin sit in the grounds of the Livadia Palace, Yalta.

Getty Images

There is hope now for Ukraine in how Yalta helped end World War II

Today’s world needs many things. One of them may well be another Yalta conference. The resort city on the south coast of the Crimea is famous for helping end World War II. It hosted an…

Sami Moubayed 22 February 2023

A member of the Lebanese security forces stands guard in front of a billboard bearing a portrait of slain former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri to mark his assassination on February 14, 2005.

AFP

The legacy of Rafik Hariri and the collapse of the Lebanese state

Although it has been 18 years since Hariri's brutal assassination, the pain of his loss is being felt now more than ever

Mohamed abi Samra 16 February 2023

In a tale of generals and presidents, Al Majalla illustrates how Lebanese politics overlapped with its army.

Andrei Cojocaru

When generals become presidents: A history of Lebanese military leaders

In a tale of generals and presidents, Al Majalla illustrates how Lebanese politics overlapped with its army

Sami Moubayed 03 February 2023

“Abu Nidal, Abu Shmidal… we will screw the PLO”

During the 17th and 18th century, European philosophers and political scientists used the ancient Latin term casus belli to define a case for waging war. Modern international law recognises three…

Sami Moubayed 26 January 2023

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An Israeli diplomat recently told Lebanese Shiites that Israel did not see them as the enemy, but it is a difficult argument to make given the death and destruction. Is there a better way?

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