The Levant Files

Iran’s state broadcaster has been accused by a former conservative MP of deepening political divisions at a time of war, highlighting growing criticism of the organisation’s role as both a government communications arm and a powerful actor in domestic political life. Hassan Shojaei, a former member of Iran’s parliament and former head of its Article 90 Commission, said the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) was failing a basic wartime duty by engaging in political and electoral manoeuvring instead of helping to protect national cohesion. “Political activity by the state broadcaster in wartime is a betrayal of the country,” Shojaei said in a video published by Khabaronline. His intervention is notable because it comes from a former conservative lawmaker rather than an opposition figure. Shojaei argued that social cohesion and national unity are vital to Iran’s ability to withstand military pressure and external threats. Yet, he said, the country’s official broadcaster has ...

July 15 marks the anniversaries of two coup attempts that left deep marks on the modern histories of Cyprus and Turkey. Separated by 42 years, the events had very different immediate outcomes, yet both showed how military intervention can reshape political institutions and societies for decades. The summer of 1974 set the course for Cyprus’s de facto division, which persists today. Tens of thousands of Cypriots were displaced, while missing persons, property claims, displacement and the loss of cultural heritage became enduring consequences of the conflict. The coup also accelerated the collapse of the Greek junta and Greece’s return to civilian rule. In Cyprus, a coup against President Archbishop Makarios was staged on July 15, 1974, by elements of the Cypriot National Guard and EOKA-B, with the backing of Greece’s military junta. Its ultimate objective was enosis — the union of Cyprus with Greece. The Presidential Palace was attacked, but Makarios escaped and made his way to Paphos ...

Sanaa has activated the “airport for airport and siege for siege” equation, issuing a strong warning to international airlines against flying over Saudi airspace following the targeting of Abha International Airport in response to Saudi strikes on Sanaa Airport, Al Mayadeen reports. On Tuesday, the Yemeni Armed Forces, through its military media, cautioned all airlines to take Yemeni warnings seriously until the blockade on Sana’a International Airport is lifted. The forces emphasized their commitment to breaking the siege and threatened to expand targeting of Saudi airports if the aggression continues, describing the years-long closure of Sanaa Airport as a “humanitarian crime” affecting millions of civilians. The warning came shortly after Yemeni Armed Forces spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree announced that Abha International Airport deep inside Saudi Arabia had been struck with ballistic missiles and drones. Saree stated that the operation achieved all its objectives as a “fir...

  The fragile, UN-brokered ceasefire that has largely dictated the pace of the Yemeni conflict since early 2022 has dramatically collapsed over the last 24 hours, pushing the Arabian Peninsula back to the precipice of open war. In a sharp and sudden escalation, the Yemeni government and the Saudi-led military coalition struck the runway at the Houthi-controlled Sanaa International Airport on Monday. The military operation was specifically designed to intercept an Iranian civilian aircraft attempting to land in what the coalition deemed a brazen violation of sovereign airspace. The targeted Iranian flight was reportedly transporting a senior Houthi delegation returning from Tehran, where they had been attending the state funeral of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. While the coalition successfully thwarted the Sanaa landing by rendering the main runway inoperable, intelligence sources indicate a secondary Iranian flight carrying officials managed to touch down at the co...

The United States and Iran entered a third consecutive night of direct military exchanges early Tuesday, as Washington’s reimposed naval blockade and a new 20-percent transit levy on Strait of Hormuz shipping collided with Tehran’s insistence that it, not the US, controls the waterway. US Central Command carried out a five-hour wave of strikes overnight, hitting targets across Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa and Bandar Abbas, which it said were intended to further degrade Iran’s capacity to threaten commercial shipping. Iranian state media separately reported explosions on Kish, Jam and Qeshm islands. In one notable first, CENTCOM said it used maritime drones over the weekend to strike an Iranian submarine and a maintenance facility at the Bandar Abbas naval base. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps responded in kind, claiming ballistic-missile strikes on a US air base in Jordan and hitting American-linked facilities in Kuwait, while Jordanian state media said four Iranian mi...

Israel's foreign intelligence service, the Mossad, spent nearly three years cultivating former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a potential post-regime-change leader for Tehran, according to a major investigative exposé published by Haaretz on July 13, 2026. The report, authored by Michael Hauser Tov and based on interviews with more than 30 senior political, defense, diplomatic and foreign sources, traces how a relationship that once seemed unthinkable — between Israeli intelligence and a man long associated with Holocaust denial and hostility toward Israel — evolved into what Haaretz describes as one of the most ambitious covert undertakings in the country's history. From adversary to asset According to the investigation, Mossad analysts had, roughly a year before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, already begun tracking a shift in Ahmadinejad's posture since he left the presidency in 2013: he had moved from being one of the regime's fiercest defenders to on...

Syria’s newly formed People’s Assembly held its inaugural session on Sunday, July 12, taking the constitutional oath in a ceremony attended by President Ahmad al-Sharaa and marking the first legislative milestone since the fall of the Assad regime. The session combined the swearing-in of members with the election of the assembly’s presidential council, culminating in the selection of Dr. Abdul Hamid Aqil al-Awak, a constitutional lawyer and former judge, as Speaker. A New Chamber, Built on a Transitional Formula The 210-seat assembly was established under Decree No. 143 of 2025, which set the legal framework for legislative authority during Syria’s transition. Under that arrangement, one-third of the seats — 70 in total — were filled by presidential appointment, while the remaining 140 were occupied by members chosen through electoral colleges across Syria’s governorates. Sunday’s opening session brought together both appointed and elected members in line with the Constitutional Dec...

The United States and Iran entered a second consecutive night of direct military exchanges over the weekend into Monday, with US Central Command confirming strikes on dozens of Iranian targets and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) retaliating against US-linked positions across the Gulf — even as diplomatic contacts over the Strait of Hormuz continued in Muscat. The pattern emerging is neither a collapsed ceasefire nor a contained crisis, but something in between: a live-fire negotiation, conducted with missiles. What Happened CENTCOM said its forces began a fresh wave of strikes at 5:00 p.m. ET, targeting Iranian air-defense systems, coastal radar installations, missile and drone infrastructure, and IRGC small boats around the Strait of Hormuz — the second such round in as many nights. Washington framed the operation as degrading Iran’s capacity to threaten commercial shipping; President Trump said the strikes were ordered “to hold Iranian forces accountable.” Iran’s resp...

  Persian-language Iranian media outlets have been closely tracking a sharp escalation in tensions between Iran and the United States over the past day and in recent days, centered on military exchanges, incidents in and around the Strait of Hormuz, and the strained status of a ceasefire or memorandum of understanding (MOU). Coverage from major agencies emphasizes Iranian responses to alleged US aggressions, disputes over maritime security arrangements, and active—but challenged—diplomatic interventions by Qatar and Oman. According to Fars News Agency, developments in the past week between Iran and the US have included military actions alongside diplomatic activity. As detailed in recent Fars reports, Iranian official Mohammad Baqaei provided explanations about Saturday negotiations held in Muscat (Oman), highlighting ongoing diplomatic channels even as field tensions persist. Fars also reported on a container ship that closed the Strait of Hormuz last night and noted Qatar’s move...