Wait till the smoke clears

As both sides agree a ceasefire, Nasser Arrabyee in Sanaa asks if the Yemen war is really over, while Mohamed Hafez figures what comes next is a waiting game

Iraqi election fears

As the Iraqi election campaign took off last week, there were fears that the ballot could be just another missed opportunity, writes Salah Hemeid

Destination Damascus

As the Cedar revolution marks its fifth anniversary, the political terrain in Lebanon remains fragile, Omayma Abdel-Latif reports from Beirut

Playing with fire

Iran may be gambling the survival of its regime on nuclear brinkmanship with the West, writes Graham Usher in New York

End of the affair?

Syria and Iran now differ on almost every regional and international issue. Is this the beginning of the end of the two countries’ strategic alliance, asks Bassel Oudat in Damascus

Settlements become cities

Rather than meeting the Palestinian negotiating demand for a freeze on settlements, Israel is grabbing yet more land for Jewish-only urban expansion, writes Saleh Al-Naami

Hedonism in Ramallah

On top of political failure, the regime of Abbas and Fayyad has now to contend with charges of moral degeneracy and criminality, writes Khaled Amayreh in Ramallah

Reaching for Darfur

In Darfur, Dina Ezzat finds fear is ever present while efforts continue to return a semblance of normality to the war-torn region