The government's response was decisive and hundreds are now behind bars, but unless it addresses what caused the rioting in the first place, it is likely to recur

Washington wants Iran to have a face-saving reason why not to attack Israel for two 'red line' assassinations, while Iran wants to avoid having to do so. Any lack of progress in the talks is secondary

The Damascus regime knows that it has forever lost the 15 million Syrians who will never again live under Bashar Al-Assad or his ilk. The country has cleaved, just as Korea did a century ago

Major battles on the edge of Europe and in the heart of the Middle East are reaching defining moments, just as America defines how it wants to be governed, but the biggest battle may still be to come

As US aircraft carriers steam towards the Middle East, the White House wants the region's main actors to sit down and agree deals that will end the war in Gaza and end the threat of war in Lebanon

The Taliban takes all girls out of school at the age of 12 while Iraq is planning a legal amendment that rights groups say would legalise child marriage. All in countries 'liberated from colonialism'

In any other place, this would have been the most appalling and barbaric atrocity. In Gaza? The victims simply get added to a list of 40,000 whose deaths are understood less with every passing day

The politics of separate wars overlap after provocations from the Israelis and the Ukrainians look likely to spark an intensified military reply

While Damascus jumps through hoops for its Arab peers, it is seizing money and property from those who once opposed the regime, even if they have since been through a 'reconciliation' process

Sectarianism has served Iran and its proxies well over the years. Suddenly dropping the animosity for the bigger goal of supporting the Palestinians is easier said than done

In Syria, they wait for an inclusive government. In Palestine, they wait for a state of their own. In Lebanon, they wait for war. As time ticks by, the sense of suffering, apathy, and silence sets in

If Iranian airspace is defended by advanced Russian technology, Israel will be less able to pierce it at will. Will Vladimir Putin go through with it, or prioritise his relations with Tel Aviv?