Sam Menassa

2 weeks ago | english.aawsat.com | Nabil Amr |Hazem Saghieh |Abdulrahman al-Rashed |Sam Menassa

Since Israel, and us with it, began to be plagued by the meteoric rise of Benjamin Netanyahu, there has been a consensus around his status as the king of Israel. This is a title that even the state’s founders and its historic leaders were never given. Netanyahu has broken every record in terms of longevity at the top. He holds the record for the longest tenure as prime minister in Israeli history.

2 weeks ago | english.aawsat.com | Hazem Saghieh |Abdulrahman al-Rashed |Sam Menassa |Ghassan Charbel

In the writing genre that falls into the “What if?” category, the author presumes the occurrence of hypothetical past events that never happened, and then infers the implications. This is not a futile literary exercise. These texts point to what had, to this or that degree, once been real possibilities, and readers take two things away from these possibilities. First, those non-materialized events underscore the responsibility of those who steered history in the direction it ultimately went in.

2 weeks ago | english.aawsat.com | Abdulrahman al-Rashed |Sam Menassa |Ghassan Charbel |Ross Douthat

For the past twenty days, US forces have been heavily bombing Houthi missile systems, drones, air defenses, weapons depots, command centers, training sites, and the homes of militia leaders across several provinces, including Sanaa. If the operations continue with this level of focus and eliminate the remaining Houthi military capabilities, will that end their existence? And what happens next?

2 weeks ago | english.aawsat.com | Sam Menassa |Ghassan Charbel |Ross Douthat |Hassan Al Mustafa

There is now a pressing need to understand what Hezbollah truly wants at this stage. Indeed, the military losses and political defeats it has suffered, as well as those of its allies and backers in the region, will be difficult to overturn in the foreseeable future. What, then, does the party want as the recent ceasefire agreement falters and Israeli violations of it escalate, as we saw most recently with the resumption of targeted assassinations and the strikes on the southern suburbs?

2 weeks ago | english.aawsat.com | Mustafa Fahs |Amir Taheri |Hazem Saghieh |Sam Menassa

In a bold step, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani called Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa to congratulate him on the formation of the new Syrian government. Sudani has taken the initiative, and this gesture will contribute to rebuilding trust between the two governments after decades of political animosity. The two countries’ hostile relationship dates back to when they were both governed by Baath regimes.