Hezbollah is in a state of frustration in recent weeks, mainly because of the complications due to its involvement in Syria. Sources close to the organization told al-Arab (Arabic link) that the heavy manpower losses the organization had suffered in the Syrian arena, where it helps the forces of President Bashar...

Iran blasted the U.S. Treasury Department’s decision to sanction nine “individuals and entities” yesterday for “their support of Iranian government sanctions evasion efforts and human rights-related abusers,” saying that doing so violated “the good will principles” engendered by the ongoing nuclear negotiations and Joint Plan of Actions (JPOA), Reuters reported...

The combined valuation of the Initial Public Offerings (IPO) and buyouts of Israeli companies this year reached a record of nearly $15 billion The Jerusalem Post reported yesterday. Throughout the year, 70 companies either got bought out or had initial public offerings, reaching a five-year high. The average value of...

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday signed on to nearly two dozen international agreements, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, setting up a showdown with the United States that The New York Times assessed could include “severe sanctions” from Washington and triggering accusations that the Palestinians...

President Obama held out hope that Iran has “a chance to get right with the world,” by coming to a nuclear agreement with the West in an interview with NPR, Reuters reported yesterday. “They’ve got a chance to get right with the world,” Obama said in the interview, which was...

After failing to get the requisite votes to impose a peace agreement on Israel in the United Nations Security Council, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas signed onto twenty international treaties, including the Rome Statute, VOA News reported today. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed on to 20 international agreements on...

Leading textbook publisher HarperCollins admitted that it omitted Israel from maps distributed in the Gulf States due to “local preferences,” The Telegraph reported today. HarperCollins, one of the world’s largest publishing houses, sells English-language atlases to schools in the Middle East that omit Israel. Collins Middle East Atlases show Jordan and...

Iranian state media boasted on Tuesday that Tehran has successfully inked an oil and gas deal with a top Italian energy company, bragging that the deal came despite the fact that Iran has yet to reach a final agreement with the P5+1 global powers regarding the country’s atomic program. The story...

Saudi labor authorities say they are now allowing Jews to work in the kingdom, the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Watan reported (Arabic link) reported on December 30. The ministry’s website lists Judaism among the 10 religions whose practitioners can fill in working applications. Shura Council Member Sadaqa Bin Yahya Fadhel said that the...

A Palestinian resolution calling to impose a peace settlement on Israel failed in a United Nations Security Council vote tonight, garnering only eight votes, one short of the number required to have forced a promised veto from the United States. The New York Times reports: The United States and Australia...