The Levant Files

Posts

Disputed Gulf Islands Return to the Fore as UAE Presses Half-Century Claim Against Iran

A territorial dispute dating back more than half a century has surged back into the international spotlight, as the United Arab Emirates renews its long-standing claim to three strategically vital islands in the Persian Gulf currently controlled by Iran. Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs lie near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil and a quarter of its liquefied natural gas pass. Iran's Imperial Navy seized the islands on 30 November 1971, just two days before the formal establishment of the UAE, after the withdrawal of British forces. Sharjah had administered Abu Musa and Ras al-Khaimah the two Tunbs; both emirates acceded to the new federation, leaving the UAE to inherit the dispute. Source: UAE Washington Embassy web page The competing claims remain irreconcilable. Iran insists the islands are an "inseparable" part of its territory, citing historical possession and a 1971 memorandum of u...

Columnist Warns ‘Appointed’ CHP Could Become Token Ally in Erdoğan-Led Bloc

An opinion piece in Turkish daily Cumhuriyet warns that if the government-backed “appointed” leadership of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) is politically isolated and stripped of grassroots support, it risks becoming a powerless, token partner in President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s orbit rather than a real opposition force. Citing past coalition practices, columnist Orhan Bursalı argues that the ruling bloc could easily absorb a much‑reduced CHP into the Cumhur Alliance, just as it previously accommodated the tiny Democratic Left Party (DSP). Bursalı contends that ongoing tensions between CHP’s elected leadership around Özgür Özel and the court‑installed “appointed” administration could, if unresolved, hollow out the latter into a “party without a base” that survives only through state backing. In that scenario, he writes, the appointed CHP would “cease to be a force” and lose its value as a usable political instrument for “Reis,” a common shorthand for Erdoğan. However, he notes that...

Trump Visit To Nato Ankara Summit Seen Easing Pressure On Erdoğan

Donald Trump’s decision to attend the 7–8 July NATO Summit in Ankara is being read in Ankara as a strategic gain that both relieves pressure on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and elevates Turkey’s role at a moment of intense regional conflict, according to a commentary by Murat Yetkin on Yetkin Report. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress on 3 June that President Donald Trump will personally take part in the NATO summit in Ankara, describing it as “perhaps the most important meeting in NATO’s history.” This confirmation comes after weeks of uncertainty over whether Trump would appear in person, a prospect that had fueled anxiety in several NATO capitals about the US commitment to the alliance. For Erdoğan, the announcement offers rare positive news on the foreign policy front just as he navigates a highly charged domestic scene, including a crisis inside the main opposition CHP sparked by a court ruling annulling internal party decisions. Ankara views Trump’s visit as a sign...

Greece's 5th Femicide of 2026: Mother of Two Stabbed to Death in Her Own Bed as Children Sleep Nearby

A 39-year-old mother of two was butchered with a knife inside her own home in the dead of night — and her 41-year-old husband stands accused of the killing in a case authorities are now branding the fifth femicide to rock Greece in 2026. In the early hours of June 1, just before 2:00 a.m., the 39-year-old Greek woman was found dead in the bedroom of her apartment, her body bearing multiple wounds from a sharp object. The killing unfolded inside an apartment block in the center of Kalamata, at the junction of Vasilissis Olgas and Kanari streets. When police arrived, they found her 41-year-old husband inside the home, drenched in blood. He was detained and arrested on the spot, and officers seized the knife allegedly used in the attack. Most chilling of all: the couple's two young daughters, aged 6 and 10, were reportedly inside the apartment when the violence erupted. A Confession — and a Disturbing Defense The victim, a 39-year-old Greek woman and mother of two, had never come to t...

Commentary: Amid Aegean Tensions, Cyprus Eyes a Quiet Window for Progress

At first glance, the regional picture looks bleak for any breakthrough on Cyprus. Ankara has not moved from its insistence on a two-state framework — effectively the permanent partition of the island. In the Aegean, Greece and Turkey are again trading warnings, and the Turkish parliament is preparing legislation to entrench the "Blue Motherland" maritime doctrine. Against that backdrop, it is fair to ask whether anything positive can realistically emerge in the near term. The answer is a cautious yes — but the gains on offer are practical rather than political. The most plausible positive development is not a settlement of the constitutional question, which remains frozen, but a thickening of the day-to-day contacts that keep the two communities connected and the diplomatic process technically alive. That window is being opened by UN envoy María Ángela Holguín. In tandem with her island visit, both leaders signalled they want to keep the process moving and prepare for "n...

Reactors in the Crossfire: How the Middle East's Nuclear Race Is Colliding With a Region at War

In a report published by The New Arab, journalist Oliver Mizzi, writing from London, mapped the expanding nuclear landscape of the Middle East and North Africa — and examined the growing dangers those facilities face as armed conflict spreads across the region. The report was prompted by a drone strike on the UAE's Barakah nuclear power plant on 17 May, blamed by Emirati authorities on Iraqi armed groups, which drew urgent condemnation from the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over the risk of a nuclear catastrophe. Active Programmes The UAE operates the most advanced civilian nuclear programme among Arab states. Its Barakah plant, which came online after a programme launched in 2006, now generates roughly a quarter of the country's electricity across four reactors, with plans for two more under consideration. Iran runs the region's most extensive nuclear programme, rooted in the 1950s and revived after post-revolutionary disruptions with Ru...

Iran's War Crackdown: 4,000 Arrested, Executions Rising — and the World Is Looking Away

In a warning published by The New Arab, Nasrin Parvaz — an Iranian human rights activist, author, and survivor of eight years of imprisonment and torture in Iran's prisons — sounded the alarm over a devastating pattern: the Islamic Republic is using the fog of its war with the US and Israel to unleash a sweeping crackdown against its own people, and the world is largely failing to notice. Since US and Israeli forces struck Iran on 28 February 2026, over 4,000 people have been arrested on national security charges, according to a United Nations report published in late April. Many have been forcibly disappeared and subjected to torture. Political prisoners have been executed, and reports of forced "confessions" extracted under duress have become alarmingly routine. Among those affected is Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who was being denied medical treatment while in detention before authorities temporarily suspended her sentence and released her on bail in Ma...

Trump Reins In Netanyahu as Lebanon Burns and Tehran Goes Quiet

A single phone call may have stopped Israeli troops at the edge of Beirut — but from the Litani River to the Strait of Hormuz, the guns have not fallen silent. Over the past day, the multi-front confrontation between the United States, Israel and Iran entered one of its most volatile phases yet, defined less by battlefield breakthroughs than by a sudden, public rupture between Washington and Jerusalem. Lebanon: a ceasefire that isn't. Israel deepened its ground offensive into southern Lebanon even as President Donald Trump declared the fighting over. Trump said he had persuaded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to abort a major raid on Beirut, claiming the Israeli leader "turned his troops around," and announced that Hezbollah and Israel had agreed to halt all shooting. The reality on the ground was messier: clashes continued across the south despite both sides nominally accepting a U.S. partial-ceasefire plan, and Israeli strikes killed at least eight people after the de...

All You Need To Know About The Trump’s Explosive Call With Netanyahu

US President Donald Trump delivered a blistering rebuke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an expletive-filled phone call over Israel’s escalating military actions in Lebanon, warning that a planned strike on Beirut would further isolate Israel and jeopardize sensitive U.S.–Iran negotiations, Axios reported on Monday. The heated exchange underscores how Israel’s Lebanon campaign is straining ties with its most important ally at a critical diplomatic moment. According to two U.S. officials and a third source briefed on the call, Trump told Netanyahu he was “crazy” for threatening to bomb the Lebanese capital and accused him of ingratitude for past political backing, including during Netanyahu’s corruption trial. One U.S. official summarized the president’s words as: “You’re fucking crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this”. Trump acknowledged that Hezbollah rocket and missile fir...