Lebanon’s south is now a battlefield where a regular army equipped with tanks and planes and guerrillas armed with rockets and drones hunt each other with no regard for the suffering of the local population. Beirut's Sports City is now a vast dormitory for refugees. President Aoun is gambling his political fate on talks, while Hezbollah attacks him with a smear campaign.
Three Indian workers were wounded in the Iranian attack on the Fujairah oil terminal in the United Arab Emirates, the only one that bypasses Hormuz, a development that threatens to reignite the regional conflict, amidst competing alliances and interests. Against this backdrop, Abu Dhabi decided to leave the cartel of oil-exporting countries and consolidate its alliance with Israel. These steps, for Iran, will lead to the “collapse” of the Gulf.
Military service reflects the divisions within society and serves as a political battleground. Women make up over 21% of combat troops, but religious leaders fear that gender integration could drive observant Jews away from combat units. “Intermediate” solutions are being considered to avoid promiscuity. The unresolved issue of the Haredim and Naftali Bennett’s “repositioning”.
Kuwait-born US journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin was arrested and had his passport revoked for publishing the video of a US fighter jet crashing. A similar measure was taken against 21 other people, including two sisters. Bahrain has revoked the citizenship of 69 people accused of sympathies with Iran. Activists see the conflict as giving the authorities an “opportunity to crack down even harder”.
This is what emerges from the report “Children in Statistics 2025” compiled by TurkStat. In 1970, children accounted for 48.5% of the population; today they account for 24.8%. Regional disparities in infant mortality; the southeastern regions have the highest number of children. Record numbers also for minors in prison, in pretrial detention, or convicted. A new law against social media use by those under 15.
According to the latest report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, global military spending reached US$ 2.887 trillion in 2025, marking the eleventh consecutive year of growth. In Asia, growth is driven by China, Japan, India, and Taiwan, due to strategic rivalries and uncertainty over the role of the United States. In the Middle East, Israeli spending was down, but Turkey’s and Saudi Arabia’s were up.
