The Levant Files

  An Iranian blogger held since the spring has been sentenced to death by a revolutionary court in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, according to four separate human rights monitors, in a case built largely around a single photograph she is alleged to have taken of a missile impact site. Marzieh Ebrahimi Shamsabadi, who wrote under the name "Sevda" or "Souda," was convicted on a charge of mofsed-e-filarz — corruption on earth — the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported on 11 September. Her case also carried allegations of insulting the Supreme Leader, media and propaganda activity against national security, intelligence and security activity on behalf of hostile governments, and photographing a military site and transmitting the images to Persian-language media based outside Iran. Iran International, which first reported the sentence, said Branch 3 of the Bandar Abbas Revolutionary Court handed down the ruling and that her lawyer was notified on ...

  Wang Yi's message to Abbas Araghchi in Beijing on 16 September was carefully staged. China, he said, is willing to strengthen dialogue with Iran and safeguard its legitimate rights and interests, urging Washington and Tehran toward restraint and the early reopening of the Strait of Hormuz — and warning against spillover into Yemen and the Red Sea. The current situation, he argued, proves the existing security architecture in the Middle East is inadequate and must be reformed. That diagnosis is not new. In Cairo on 2 September, Xi Jinping put four points to Sisi: regional states as masters of their own affairs, rejection of external interference, development as the foundation of security, and stronger international coordination — with China ready to help protect shipping lanes and address the root causes of conflict. Delivery is the harder question. Three numbers frame the gap. First, procurement: the United States supplied 54 percent of Middle Eastern arms imports in 2021–2025,...

Over the past week, settler attacks in the occupied Palestine have continued at a punishing pace. On September 13, 2026, dozens of settlers stormed the town of Yasuf near Salfit, firing live ammunition and stoning homes, while a parallel raid on Beita, south of Nablus, saw settlers attack residential areas and main roads under military protection — Israeli forces responded to Palestinian residents defending their homes with tear gas and live fire rather than confronting the attackers. In late August, a CNN crew filming a Palestinian family being forced from their home in Qusra was itself attacked by masked settlers. On September 5, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee called settler attacks "acts of terror" and urged prosecution during a West Bank visit — a notable statement from a normally sympathetic administration, though it has not been matched by policy consequences. The Pattern Three consistent, mutually reinforcing patterns define this wave of violence, according to the UN, H...

At least 12 Palestinians, including four children, were killed after a damaged residential building collapsed in Gaza City on Wednesday, health officials said, as rescue crews continued searching for people believed trapped beneath the rubble. The multi-storey building, located in the al-Sinaa industrial area in southwest Gaza City, had been housing about six families displaced by the war. It collapsed during the morning hours onto its residents and onto tents erected nearby, according to local rescue workers and residents. Shifa Hospital said at least 15 people were injured. The death toll could rise, with dozens reported missing or feared under the debris. Earlier casualty figures differed as rescue operations continued and information emerged from the scene. Videos reviewed by news organisations showed civil defence teams and local residents working through broken concrete and twisted metal. Some survivors, including children, were pulled out while residents helped dig by hand. Witn...

  Saudi Arabia's air defense forces shot down a drone launched by Yemen's Ansar Allah/Houthi movement on the outskirts of Mecca on Tuesday evening, September 15, the first time in nearly a decade that an attack has been directed at Islam's holiest city. The interception, carried out at around 6:50 p.m. local time south of Mecca, triggered a rare security alert in the city — the first since 2017, when Saudi forces intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile aimed at the same area. Coalition spokesperson Turki al-Maliki condemned the incident as "an attempt to frighten worshippers and harm civilians," calling the protection of the two holy mosques and the safety of pilgrims a "red line" for the kingdom. Additional alerts were briefly activated in nearby Taif and Jeddah before being lifted. The coalition pledged "necessary deterrent measures" against the Iran-backed group. The Houthis quickly rejected the accusation. Military spokesman Yahya Saree said...

A sudden and severe fuel price hike in Syria has triggered widespread protests across several governorates, exposing the deep structural weaknesses of the nation's struggling energy sector. The government's decision to raise fuel prices by up to forty percent has intensified public anxiety over the cost of living, prompting citizens to take to the streets in a dramatic display of frustration. Demonstrations have been reported in rural Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, and Hasakah. Angry residents have blocked roads, burned tires, and disrupted sections of the vital M4 highway. The public's anger is primarily directed at the scale and speed of the price increases, which bear little relation to household incomes in an economy still reeling from years of conflict, sanctions, and severe infrastructure damage. The economic fallout from this decision is expected to be vast. The price hikes will likely have a cascading effect, forcing farmers to shoulder higher cultivation and irrigation costs....

  Yemen’s Ansar Allah/Houthis have said they have no intention of closing the Bab al-Mandeb Strait or disrupting general commercial navigation in the Red Sea, while signalling that they remain open to negotiations aimed at ending the country’s renewed conflict. In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor journalist Adam Lucente, published on September 15, Abdulwahid Abu Ras, acting foreign minister of the Houthi-led administration in Sanaa, rejected mounting concerns that the group’s recent territorial advances could lead to the closure of one of the world’s most strategically important maritime corridors. Abu Ras accused Saudi Arabia of fuelling international fears over the security of the waterway, insisting that the Houthis had “no intention to close Bab al-Mandeb or the Red Sea.” He told Lucente that navigation remained normal despite a noticeable decline in maritime traffic following the group’s rapid military advance along Yemen’s western coastline. According to figures cited b...

  Ilias Kasidiaris, the former deputy leader of Greece's neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, was released from Domokos Prison on Tuesday, September 15, after serving time on a conviction for directing a criminal organization, according to a report by Greek outlet Newsit. Dozens of supporters gathered outside the prison gates around noon to greet him, chanting "Ilias, remember, we are with you" and "Ilias, we love you," some reportedly hailing him as "the Prime Minister." Addressing the crowd, Kasidiaris said, "I gave you my word that when I pass through this gate I would return to the front lines of national struggles," adding, "I see that I am not alone but alongside me is a large national party like those that dominate Europe." He announced plans for an internet broadcast the following Monday to unveil the name and political program of a new party. Kasidiaris was sentenced to 13.5 years in October 2020 after an Athens court ruled that Gol...

  Unfortunately, these detentions are neither isolated incidents nor exceptional cases. They reflect how the long-running erosion of human rights across many areas has now extended into the sphere of LGBTQI+ rights. Operations of this kind ultimately target our rights — and, with them, human dignity itself. Osman İşçi On the morning of September 13, we unfortunately woke up to news of a new wave of operations targeting LGBTQI+ organisations. Carried out under the name “My Family Is Safe” ( Ailem Güvende ), the operations resulted in the detention of LGBTQI+ activists and members of LGBTQI+ organisations. As part of the operation, members of Kaos GL’s executive and supervisory boards were detained, while the association’s offices were searched. At the same time, raids were carried out against LGBTQI+ organisations and venues in several other provinces. Unfortunately, these detentions are neither isolated incidents nor exceptional cases. They reflect how the long-running erosion of h...

Yemen's conflict escalated sharply over the past 12 hours, with the Iran-backed Houthi movement seizing additional Red Sea islands, Saudi airstrikes reportedly killing civilians in Taiz, and Brent crude climbing to a 16-week high on fears for global shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. A Houthi health ministry official said Saudi airstrikes in Taiz province killed three people, including two children, and wounded two others, though the Associated Press could not independently verify the claim or identify what was targeted, according to a report carried by  News4Jax . The same report said Houthi forces have now seized the strategic Greater and Lesser Hanish islands in the Red Sea, extending their control of the corridor after recently capturing the port of Mokha and other islands nearby. The advance follows what  NBC News  described as a "rapid push" that has given the Houthis effective control of Yemen's Red Sea coastline and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, one of the...