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Middle East tensions

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Israeli female soldier hostages wave before being handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza City.

Second hostage swap is a bitter pill for Netanyahu’s failed ambitions

For Israel’s prime minister, the safe release of four soldiers is only further proof that his ambitions for the Middle East have not been fully realised.

  • Amin Saikal

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To ensure lasting peace, both sides must make every effort not to dehumanise each other.

One word lies at the heart of Israelis’ and Palestinians’ inability to find peace

I have managed thousands of hours of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue. There is one factor that has so far made peace impossible.

  • Ittay Flescher
Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Antisemitism and Islamophobia are not the only things rupturing our communities

Conflict entrepreneurs politicise conversations over the Middle East and then decry the breakdown in social cohesion. They’re part of the problem.

  • Tim Costello
Israeli soldiers prepare to be deployed to the Gaza Strip.

Blinken aims to ‘cross finish line’ on Gaza ceasefire, hostage deal as Israeli strikes intensify

A renewed push is under way to reach a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.

  • Nidal al-Mughrabi
Smoke rises from the area around the international airport in Sanaa after the strikes.

US amplifies strikes on Yemen’s Houthis as tensions with Israel flare

The strikes mark the latest salvo as the US and its ally Israel struggle to halt a campaign of regional assaults by the Iranian-backed militant group.

  • Missy Ryan
People sing and dance on top of a destroyed tank in Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, following the fall of the Assad regime.

Can Syria’s conquering rebels rebuild a shattered state?

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist group that led the overthrow of the Assad regime, will need to show it is willing to give political representation to Syria’s diverse sects and minorities.

  • Loveday Morris and Abbie Cheeseman
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The clean-up begins on another house that was the target of graffiti.

‘We won’t be intimidated’: In Sydney’s eastern suburbs, there is fear, shock and defiance

Members of Sydney’s eastern suburbs Jewish community have welcomed extra security – but have said they won’t be cowed by antisemitic attacks.

  • Jordan Baker and Catherine Naylor
An opposition fighter steps on a broken bust of the late Syrian President Hafez Assad in Damascus.

Syria’s new leaders say they’re a moderate force. Australia has labelled them terrorists

While the fall of the Assad regime is momentous for the Middle East, it’s doubtful Syrians will be entering a time of prolonged peace.

  • Amin Saikal
Cousins Ammr Nakour (left) and Bilal El Kesm are celebrating the end of dictatorship in Syria - a country they fled when they were eight years old.

‘It has come at last’: Sydney Syrians celebrate Assad’s fall

Diaspora are celebrating the sudden end of over half a century of dictatorship in their homeland.

  • Ben Cubby
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office had strongly criticised the government of Anthony Albanese over its lack of support for Israel.

Netanyahu’s rebuke of Albanese is weak and unprovable but serves his purposes

Israel’s prime minister sees himself as the ultimate defender of Israel against an international left that he portrays as hostile and complicit in antisemitism.

  • Dan Perry

Original URL: https://www.watoday.com.au/topic/middle-east-tensions-1nd1