Egyptian security forces are preparing for anti-Hamas demonstrations. Popular suspicion that the Iran-backed Palestinian terror group may try to bolster the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood against large-scale anti-government protests planned for June 30 has been deepening. Arab-language media is reporting that police authorities are preparing for the backlash. Theories under which Hamas provided...

• Kindle

Two North American politicians – one from the U.S., one from Canada – have launched an initiative to advocate on behalf of that country’s political prisoners. The runup to the election saw a crackdown on “political activists, trade unionists and students,” with Amnesty International director for the Middle East and North Africa blasting...

• Kindle

Soon after it became clear to Ali Akbar Velayati that he had no chance of winning this week’s presidential election in Iran, he quickly congratulated the rest of the candidates and wished them success. “We are all competitors and friends who serve the regime well,” he said. And indeed, putting...

• Kindle

Earlier today the Iranian government certified that Hassan Rouhani – a cleric historically aligned with the so-called “conservative pragmatist” camp of President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani – will be Iran’s next president. Rouhani is set to take office on August 3, and will replace incumbent Iranian and long-time Rafsanjani rival Mahmoud...

• Kindle

Today, an estimated fifty million Iranians are going to elect the seventh president of the Islamic Republic of Iran. There are six candidates left in the race. One of them is Hassan Rohani, who, nearly ten years ago, was the Secretary General of the Supreme National Security Council (SGSNS) and...

• Kindle

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon warned Wednesday that spillover from Syria’s civil war is threatening the increasingly fragile four-decade ceasefire between Syria and Israel. Observers are specifically raising alarms about the potential collapse of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) – the U.N. peacekeeping mission which has monitored the...

• Kindle

Google has uncovered what the company calls thousands of “politically motivated” hacking attacks targeting the email accounts of Iranian users. The list of potential suspects is not extensive: “For almost three weeks, we have detected and disrupted multiple email-based phishing campaigns aimed at compromising the accounts owned by tens of...

• Kindle

The Lebanese army is threatening to retaliate against future Syrian attacks on Lebanese territory. The pointedly explicit warning comes after Damascus launched a helicopter gunship attack on the Lebanese border town of Arsal and injured two: The Lebanese army has warned it will immediately respond to any future cross-border attacks...

• Kindle

The Treasury Department this week designated four Lebanese nationals for conducting operations on behalf of Hezbollah in western Africa. The Iran-backed terror group is part and parcel of a network in Africa responsible for that the New York Times describes as “spectacular” state and non-state violence. Treasury’s statement on the...

• Kindle

Human rights activists seeking to highlight the lack of genuine democracy in Iran have launched a project to allow Iranians to express their electoral preferences in an unofficial, online election that will take place alongside this Friday’s presidential election.  Chaired by renowned Russian chess player and human rights advocate Garry Kasparov,...

• Kindle