Author: Gulf News Week
An media investigation uncovers how a coordinated campaign involving Israeli officials and suspicious accounts are hijacking the #FreeThePersianPeople hashtag.Transcendent moments in geopolitics that reverberate around the world are no longer just forged in the streets or inside situation rooms. They are increasingly engineered in the digital sphere, where actors, often with a self-serving agenda, compete to control the narrative, define its meaning and decide who speaks for whom.In recent weeks as protests erupted in Iranian cities, the hashtag #FreeThePersianPeople trended on X. The campaign was accompanied by a flood of posts heralding an imminent “decisive moment” in Iran’s history and…
Tensions are rising as Israel’s army carries out near-daily attacks on Lebanon in violation of the 2024 Hezbollah ceasefire.Israel’s military has carried out attacks on two villages in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, local media outlets are reporting, amid growing concerns of a wider Israeli escalation as the government pushes for the disarmament of Lebanese group Hezbollah.In social media posts on Thursday, Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee threatened residents of the neighbouring villages of Sohmor and Mashghara, telling them leave their homes ahead of planned strikes on buildings he claimed contained “Hezbollah infrastructure”.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Lebanese fear US…
Amid recent mass protests and an internet blackout, there have been conflicting death toll reports from Iran.Protests in Iran, which began in late December 2025 over the country’s worsening economic conditions, have escalated into a broader challenge to its clerical leadership, which has been in power since the 1979 Islamic revolution.Tensions with the United States have mounted since US President Donald Trump suggested that Washington could militarily intervene in Iran if there was a crackdown on protesters.Critics of the Iranian government, primarily in the West, claim that thousands of people have died in the protests. In particular, the US-based Human…
One Palestinian man is shot and wounded, and at least 80 people are detained in mass overnight raids in the occupied territory.The Israeli military has launched raids and interrogations ensnaring more than 80 people across the occupied West Bank, wounding at least one man and demolishing the home of another as Israel escalates its attacks on the Palestinian territory in tandem with its ongoing genocidal war in Gaza.In one incident on Thursday, Israeli forces surrounded a home in Dura, south of the city of Hebron, before shooting and wounding the brother of Mahmoud al-Fasfous.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1…
As the US launches ‘Phase Two’, the former UN envoy heads to Cairo to meet Palestinian faction leaders, leading a fraught plan to replace Hamas with a technocratic administration.The search for a figure to lead post-war Gaza, which lies in ruins from Israel’s genocidal war, has moved from diplomatic backrooms to the negotiating tables in Cairo.Following the Arab veto of the regionally toxic former British leader Tony Blair, Washington has deployed its Plan B, Nickolay Mladenov, as the push for phase two of the fragile ceasefire gains some momentum.The 53-year-old former Bulgarian foreign minister and defence minister is no longer…
Israel has attacked south Lebanon dozens of times recently, as locals fear a renewed military escalation.Beirut, Lebanon – Fears are rife in Lebanon over another Israeli military escalation, similar to the one in 2024 that killed more than 4,000 people and displaced around a quarter of the country’s population.The intensification comes amid growing pressure by the United States and Israel on Lebanon to ensure the Shia group Hezbollah disarms. The decision to bring Hezbollah’s weapons under state control is popular in Lebanon outside of the group’s traditional support base. But analysts also fear internal tensions could lead to violence if…
A former Russian diplomat and analysts decode Moscow’s muted response to protests and political tension.The Kremlin is confident that mass protests in Iran have peaked, and Tehran’s leadership has managed to squash domestic resistance to its rule, according to one of Russia’s pre-eminent experts on Iran.Russia’s embassy in Tehran apparently informed Moscow that the protests have died down and that the Kremlin “can breathe a sigh of relief”, Nikita Smagin told media.The protests over economic hardships erupted on December 28, spreading to hundreds of cities and towns throughout the sanctions-hit nation of more than 90 million.Iranian law enforcement squashed them,…
Palestinian Authority submits files for Gaza’s Old City and West Bank landmarks to United Nations’ World Heritage list as it aims to protect its cultural heritage from Israeli attacks and appropriation.For Palestinians maintaining their land and heritage, which is under Israeli occupation since 1948, became a national priority. The Palestinian Authority has formally moved to register 14 new cultural and natural sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage tentative list in a bid to safeguard its cultural and historical sites from Israeli appropriation and attacks.“Palestine is not just a space of political conflict, but a civilisation rooted in human history,” Marwa Adwan,…
The second phase of the ceasefire deal includes naming a panel of Palestinian technocrats to lead post-war Gaza.Hamas leaders and representatives of other Palestinian factions in Gaza are in the Egyptian capital Cairo for talks on the second phase of the United States-led Gaza ceasefire deal, amid a teetering ceasefire that Israel has repeatedly violated as its genocidal war continues.Deep uncertainty remains over the next steps involving the disarmament of Palestinian armed groups in the Strip, rebuilding and daily governance.An adviser to the head of Hamas’s political bureau told media on Thursday that discussions in Cairo are focusing on reopening…
A ‘humanitarian zone’ is expected to remain open on Thursday, allowing residents to leave Deir Hafer and Maskana.The Syrian army is telling civilians to evacuate parts of the rural Aleppo governorate after accusing the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of building up troops in the area, following days of deadly fighting inside Aleppo city, as concerns rise over a new front in the simmering battle.A “humanitarian zone” was expected to remain open on Thursday from 9am local time (6:00 GMT) to 5pm (14:00 GMT), allowing residents to leave Deir Hafer and Maskana in the eastern countryside. The army declared the areas…