Get ready for the sequel. On November 6, the Associated Press declared Donald Trump the winner of the 2024 US presidential election. A transition now kicks off as world events continue to churn. When he returns to the presidency on January 20, Trump’s inbox will be full of global challenges. How will he respond? And
Hezbollah has a new secretary-general, though far from the obvious choice. On October 29, the group announced that its demure and soft-spoken Naim Qassem, rumored to be hiding in Iran, had succeeded Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated on September 27, to Hezbollah’s top local post. Though entirely ideologically aligned, there is a vast contrast between
Over the past month two developments unfolded that together capture Israel’s predicament with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). First, a top Hamas commander, killed in combat in Lebanon, was revealed to be an UNRWA employee on administrative leave—signaling, once again, the involvement of local UNRWA
On September 29, rumors began circulating on social media that a helicopter carrying leaders from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Yemen-based Houthis crashed in southwestern Iran. The crash reportedly killed several high-ranking IRGC members and Houthi leaders, including the head of coordination for the Houthis, Mohammed Abdul-Salam, and Houthi commander Abdul Malik
As Egypt continues to suffer the ramifications of the Israel-Hamas war that has dragged on for over a year on its northeastern border, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has proposed a new two-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that Cairo hopes would ultimately lead to a broader, permanent truce. Announcing the ceasefire initiative during a press conference with
As the Israel-Gaza war continues and expands regionally, Atlantic Council nonresident fellow Stefanie H. Ali spoke to Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin on October 15 to discuss how Israelis view Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the ongoing conflict, and the future. Scheindlin is a Tel Aviv-based public opinion researcher and political advisor who has worked on nine national
From the very beginning of the armed conflict ignited by the Hamas atrocities of October 7, 2023, US officials have counseled their Israeli counterparts to identify achievable political objectives and embed them in whatever military operations might ensue. “Don’t make the mistakes we made in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan,” warned the Americans. “Understand that in
“Lethal, precise, and above all, surprising.” That’s how Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant earlier this month described the strikes that Israel would launch against Iran in retaliation for Tehran’s October 1 ballistic missile attack against Israel. In the predawn hours on Saturday, Israel launched a series of airstrikes against Iranian military infrastructure in and around
Hamas’s recent alleged killing of an aid worker from a US-based nonprofit highlights the security challenges looming in Gaza’s postwar future. On September 27, Islam Hejazy, the Gaza program manager of the US nonprofit HEAL Palestine, was shot and killed by multiple gunmen in a drive-by shooting in Khan Younis. While Hamas claimed the incident
Hostage and wrongful detention cases remain a key US national security priority regardless of the fact that they represent a relatively small number of instances, as their impacts reverberate well beyond the hostage and their family. Countries like China, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela have adopted the practice of wrongful detention—hostage-taking by state actors—precisely because they
