The Levant Files

Flydubai passengers returned to Israel under fighter escort on Wednesday evening after a violent cockpit incident forced their Dubai–Tel Aviv flight to land in Saudi Arabia. Hebrew media reported that some survivors initially refused to board another aircraft from the same airline, while the crisis triggered urgent talks over aviation security between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Israeli officials suspect an attempt to crash the aircraft; the motive remains under investigation. By the Editorial Team of TLF Photo: Simple Flying. Coverage checked for 16:35–20:35 Cyprus/Israel time, 30 September 2026. Earlier reporting is included where needed for context. The journey ended with relatives waiting at Ben Gurion Airport and emergency teams ready to receive passengers. According to Calcalist’s evening live coverage , the replacement aircraft landed at about 18:35, accompanied by two Israeli fighter jets during its final approach. Medical and psychological support had been a...

Iran says Washington has answered its offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, bringing a new diplomatic exchange before Tehran’s leadership. But the American terms remain undisclosed, and Iran’s foreign minister insists the waterway will reopen only when Tehran’s conditions are met. By the Editorial Team of TLF Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi presented the US response to President Masoud Pezeshkian at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, according to government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani, whose statement to state-run IRNA was reported by the Associated Press . The announcement establishes that a response has reached the president; it does not establish that Tehran has accepted it. The Dispute Over Who Moves First According to Reuters , Araghchi received Washington’s feedback through Qatari mediators in Doha on Tuesday. A non-Iranian official briefed on the talks said the main disagreement concerned the order of implementation, rather than the plan’s components. The...

Fatima Zahra El Mansouri has become Morocco’s first woman prime minister, a historic appointment that gives the Arab world its second woman to lead a government after Tunisia’s Najla Bouden. By the Editorial Team of TLF Photo: Fatima Zahra El Mansouri (Numedya24) A First For Morocco King Mohammed VI appointed Fatima Zahra El Mansouri as Morocco’s head of government on September 29, following parliamentary elections won by her Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM). At 50, she becomes the first woman to hold the country’s top government post. El Mansouri is a lawyer by training and a familiar figure in Moroccan public life. Before her appointment, she served as urban planning minister and mayor of Marrakech. She has also held senior roles within PAM, which had never before won a parliamentary election. In Morocco, the king appoints the head of government from the party that wins the most seats in parliamentary elections. The appointment follows that constituti...

Israel’s progressive and left-wing parties are heading into the October election more organized than they were four years ago. But unity on the ballot has not yet become a shared route to power—or a common plan for governing. By the Editorial Team of The Levant Files Israel’s left has consolidated, but the prospect of a governing alternative still hinges on coalition choices and the role of Arab parties. (Photo: [AI]) Israel votes on 27 October, with Benjamin Netanyahu’s opponents facing a familiar problem: they may be able to assemble a parliamentary majority on paper, but that does not mean they agree on what to do with it. The left has taken steps to address one part of that problem. Labor and Meretz have joined forces under The Democrats , while Hadash, Ta’al and Balad have reunited on a joint electoral list. The result is a more consolidated left—and a sharper question for voters: can these forces help build a government, or will they rem...

The alarm was real. The explanation is not settled. As investigators examine a cockpit confrontation aboard a Dubai–Tel Aviv flight, a larger question hangs over the headlines: are the enemies of the United States and Israel preparing another September 11—or has the memory of that day begun to make every frightening incident look like its prelude? By The Editorial Team of TLF An aircraft at an airport, or a flight-tracking map showing the route to Tabuk. Caption: The Flydubai flight landed safely in Saudi Arabia after an emergency diversion. The cause of the cockpit incident remains under investigation. On Wednesday morning, the story seemed to race ahead of the facts. A Flydubai passenger jet bound for Tel Aviv turned away from Israel, transmitted emergency codes and descended sharply before landing in Saudi Arabia. Israeli fighter jets were scrambled. Passengers were frightened. Then came the most disturbing reports: a fight in the cockpit, a pilot ...

After two years of devastating war, Tigray is again caught between armed forces and unfinished politics. Federal troops say they are making gains; Tigrayan forces have also taken ground. Behind the rival claims lies a harder question: can Ethiopia’s leaders settle the disputes the 2022 peace deal left open before another war exacts its price from civilians? By The Levant Files Tigray Is More Than a Front Line Tigray is Ethiopia’s northernmost region, bordering Eritrea and Sudan. It is home to the Tigrayan people, who speak Tigrinya and have a distinct political and cultural history. Tigray is part of Ethiopia, not an independent state. Yet the name now carries the weight of a national political struggle. At its centre is the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a political movement that once led Ethiopia’s ruling coalition and remains the most powerful political force in the region. During the 2020–22 war, its fighters and the Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) fou...

Iraq will probably keep its borders. The danger is unfolding inside them, where armed factions can challenge the government, foreign powers can punish the country from above, and millions of citizens still depend on an oil-funded state that cannot fully decide when Iraq goes to war. By The Editorial Team of TLF The last American troops were due to leave Iraq on Wednesday . Iran-backed factions celebrated. In the Kurdish region, the mood was colder. The departure closes the military mission that returned in 2014, when Islamic State fighters swept through Mosul and exposed just how quickly the Iraqi state could buckle. This time, tanks are unlikely to race toward Baghdad. There may be no dramatic declaration from Erbil, no freshly drawn border across Nineveh, and no television map split into Kurdish, Sunni and Shia colors. Iraq can still come apart quietly. The country already contains several centers of force with different commanders, patrons and sources of m...

Donald Trump says the war on Iran will end "very soon." Tehran is talking about the same end point, though in a different register and on a different clock. One points to a deal after the US midterms. The other tells American voters to change the administration first. Between them sits a seven-day Iranian proposal, a blocked strait and five weeks of waiting. The Levant Files Editorial Team Trump's Deadline Keeps Moving Trump's latest promise came on 28 September. Asked when the fighting would end, he said the United States would prevail "very soon," adding, "one way or the other." He offered no date, no terms and no account of how that outcome would be reached. It was not a fresh deadline. On 9 March, he used almost the same language. On 1 April, he put the end of the war two weeks away. Earlier this month he went further, saying it would come "probably, right after the midterms." The date that now hangs over the w...

By the Editorial Team of TLF Turkish football's refereeing crisis reached the top of its administration on Tuesday, as police detained Central Refereeing Committee chairman Ferhat Gündoğdu in an investigation into alleged document forgery and mistreatment of match officials, Turkish media reported. The September 29 operation stretched across Istanbul, Ankara, Elazığ and Manisa. A statement reproduced by Nefes put the number detained at seven, including Gündoğdu, although some early reports gave a total of eight. Referees and observers were among those implicated. The allegations remain unproven. Reports describe police custody, with no confirmed court order remanding Gündoğdu in prison in the coverage reviewed for this article. Investigators examined financial intelligence from MASAK, telephone traffic records, witness accounts and expert findings. Turkish outlets described the case as the "Referees dossier", involving allegations of falsified official docu...

Washington is talking to the Houthis as fighting spreads across Yemen. The immediate goal appears to be protecting shipping. The deeper risk is that a narrow agreement could leave Yemen’s rival authorities more firmly entrenched, with no settlement for the country itself. By the Editorial Team of TLF The United States and Yemen’s Houthis have been talking. That much is no longer rumour. Vice President JD Vance acknowledged direct conversations , and Reuters reported that US officials met Houthi representatives at the American embassy in Muscat, with Oman helping to arrange the meeting. The State Department declined to confirm that particular encounter. According to Reuters’ sources, the discussion focused on preserving the US–Houthi ceasefire and keeping shipping moving through the Red Sea. Those are urgent concerns. The Houthis have advanced along Yemen’s coast, fighting with Saudi-backed forces has intensified, and the Bab al-Mandab strait has become even more expo...