The Levant Files

Diplomacy between Washington and Tehran lurched into a new and uncertain phase over the weekend as Iran formally submitted a sweeping 14-point peace proposal to the United States through Pakistani mediators, while President Donald Trump publicly declared that he could not imagine the plan would be acceptable — even before he had finished reading it. The proposal, details of which were disclosed by Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency and the state-owned Press TV on Saturday, represents Tehran's most comprehensive formal response yet to a nine-point framework the US had earlier presented. At its core, the Iranian document demands that all outstanding issues — including the nuclear question, the Strait of Hormuz, and the lifting of sanctions — be resolved within thirty days, rejecting the two-month ceasefire extension Washington had proposed as the basis for continued negotiations. Among the key Iranian demands: formal guarantees against any future US or Israeli military aggre...

Mali, once heralded as a beacon of democratic stability in West Africa, now stands on the precipice of total collapse. In the early hours of April 25, 2026, the sounds of war shattered the silence of Bamako as suicide car bombs and coordinated assault teams struck six major cities. By dawn, the country’s Defence Minister, General Sadio Camara, was dead—assassinated in his own home—and the military junta led by Colonel Assimi Goïta was plunged into its gravest security crisis to date. This offensive, a joint operation between al-Qaeda affiliate JNIM and the Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), has effectively dismantled years of precarious security gains and discarded the remains of the 2015 Algiers Peace Accords. The fall of Kidal, a symbolic northern stronghold, marks a humiliating retreat for Russia’s Africa Corps, proving that Moscow’s model of trading military muscle for mineral access is failing its existential test. The human cost is staggering; thousands have fled into Maur...

How the worst jihadist offensive in Mali since 2012 is reshaping regional security dynamics — from Bamako to Beirut In the early hours of April 25, 2026, the sounds of war came to Bamako. Twin explosions shook the garrison town of Kati, 15 kilometres from Mali's capital, as suicide car bombs and assault teams struck simultaneously across six cities. By dawn, the country's Defence Minister, General Sadio Camara — the man who had built Mali's military partnership with Russia — was dead, killed in his own home by a car bomb. Mali's chief of military intelligence lay wounded. And junta leader Colonel Assimi Goïta, reportedly evacuated to a secure base, fell silent for days. What unfolded over the next 72 hours was the most consequential security crisis in the Sahel since at least 2012 — and its tremors are already being felt far beyond the region. The assault was claimed by two armed coalitions acting in concert: Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), al-Qaeda...

Tehran Signals Readiness for Diplomacy or War as Ceasefire Negotiations Stall Iran declared on Saturday that the diplomatic initiative is now Washington's to act upon, after Tehran formally submitted a comprehensive 14-point peace proposal to Pakistan, the chief mediator in ongoing negotiations aimed at ending the 2026 US-Israeli war against Iran. Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi made the announcement before a gathering of foreign ambassadors and diplomatic mission heads in Tehran, signalling that Iran has made its position clear and now awaits a response from the United States. "The Islamic Republic of Iran has submitted its plan to Pakistan as the mediator with the aim of permanently ending the imposed war, and now the ball is in the US court to choose between a diplomatic solution or a continuation of the confrontational approach," Gharibabadi said, according to Iran's state broadcaster IRIB. The deputy minister added th...

In a moment that reverberated far beyond the football pitch, Amedspor — the Kurdish football club from the ancient city of Amed, known in Turkish as Diyarbakır — secured promotion to Turkey's Süper Lig for the first time in its history on Saturday afternoon. The club, which carries the Kurdish name of its home city as a deliberate act of cultural identity, drew 3-3 away at Iğdır FK on the final day of the TFF First League season to finish second in the standings and earn an automatic place among the elite of Turkish football. The result was enough on goal difference against rivals Esenler Erokspor, who also drew their last match. Goals from Hasan Ali Kaldırım, a penalty converted by Diagne, and a strike from Israeli-Arab international Dia Saba — a controversial $3 million summer signing — sealed the historic draw. Celebrations erupted in Diyarbakır's streets and in Kurdish communities across Turkey and the diaspora, where Amedspor has accumulated more than one million supporter...

Το Σάββατο το απόγευμα, ένα γεγονός που ξεπέρασε κατά πολύ τα όρια του ποδοσφαίρου συντάραξε την Τουρκία. Η Άμεντσπορ (ή Αμέντσπορ), ο κουρδικός σύλλογος από την αρχαία πόλη Άμεντ –την επίσημα γνωστή ως Ντιγιάρμπακιρ– εξασφάλισε για πρώτη φορά στην ιστορία της την άνοδο στη Σούπερ Λιγκ. Η ομάδα, που φέρει περήφανα το κουρδικό όνομα της γενέτειράς της ως συνειδητή δήλωση πολιτισμικής ταυτότητας, αναδείχθηκε ισόπαλη 3-3 στην έδρα της Ιγντίρ την τελευταία αγωνιστική της 1ης Κατηγορίας, τερμάτισε δεύτερη και πήρε το εισιτήριο για την ελίτ του τουρκικού ποδοσφαίρου. Το αποτέλεσμα έφτανε χάρη στην καλύτερη διαφορά τερμάτων από την Έσενλερ Έροκσπορ, που κι εκείνη έμεινε στην ισοπαλία την ίδια μέρα. Τα γκολ που έγραψαν ιστορία ήρθαν από τον Χασάν Αλί Καλντιρίμ, τον Ντιάνι με εύστοχο πέναλτι και τον Ισραηλινο-Άραβα διεθνή Ντία Σαμπά – μια καλοκαιρινή μεταγραφή των 3 εκατομμυρίων δολαρίων που είχε προκαλέσει αντιδράσεις. Αμέσως μετά το σφύριγμα της λήξης, ξέσπασαν πανηγυρισμοί στους δρόμους του ...

Cumartesi günü, futbol sahalarının çok ötesine geçen bir gelişme yaşandı. Kadim kent Amed'in, yani resmî adıyla Diyarbakır'ın Kürt kulübü Amedspor, tarihinde ilk kez Süper Lig'e yükselmeyi garantiledi. Kurulduğu şehrin Kürtçe adını bilinçli bir kimlik duruşuyla omuzlayan kulüp, 1. Lig'in son haftasında deplasmanda Iğdır FK ile 3-3 berabere kalarak sezonu ikinci sırada tamamladı ve Türkiye futbolunun zirvesine adım attı. Son maçında berabere kalan rakibi Esenler Erokspor'un averajla geride bırakılması şampiyonluğa yetti. Hasan Ali Kaldırım'ın ayağından bulduğu gol, Diagne'nin penaltısı ve yaz aylarında 3 milyon dolarlık tartışmalı bir transferle kadroya katılan İsrailli-Arap milli oyuncu Dia Saba'nın vuruşu, bu tarihi beraberliği getiren gollerdi. Son düdükle birlikte Diyarbakır sokaklarında, Türkiye'nin dört bir yanındaki Kürt yurttaşlarda ve diasporada coşku patladı. Bugün bir milyonu aşkın taraftarıyla Amedspor, koca bir halkın umudunu sırtlamış du...

A fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran is teetering on the edge of collapse, with Iran's military openly warning that a resumption of hostilities is probable and Washington showing no sign of retreating from its maximalist demands. Nearly four weeks after the two sides reached a shaky truce brokered by Pakistan, diplomacy has stalled, the Strait of Hormuz remains functionally blocked, and both powers are simultaneously negotiating and preparing for renewed combat. A War That May Not Stay Frozen Iran's military headquarters issued its starkest assessment yet on Saturday. As stated by Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from Tehran, the Iranian military said the resumption of war is "likely as evidence shows the US is not committed" to any agreement or treaty. A senior officer at the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Command echoed that view, telling BBC Persian that renewed conflict is "probable" and that Iran's armed forces are "fully pr...

With  Iran's shadow falling across the Middle East and the spectre of a wider regional war growing harder to dismiss, the press organs closest to the ruling establishments in Ankara and Tel Aviv have opened a fresh front of their own — one fought in column inches and social media screeds rather than missiles, though the language deployed by both sides is scarcely less incendiary. The immediate trigger was the interception of the Sumud Freedom Flotilla in Greek waters on Friday. Israeli naval forces boarded vessels carrying roughly 180 pro-Palestinian activists — among them at least 20 Turkish citizens — before the convoy could reach Gaza. The episode ignited a torrent of commentary that laid bare just how deep, and how personal, the estrangement between the two former regional allies has become. In Turkey's pro-government Yeni Şafak, columnist İsmail Kılıçarslan dispensed entirely with diplomatic restraint. Writing hours after the flotilla's detention, he described Israel a...