Beyond the Headlines

Experts have long warned the violence in the Gaza Strip could spill over into a wider conflict. And those warnings have become more relevant and real today. The US and Britain launched overnight strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, these attacks being carried out from the air and sea in response to the Iran-backed militia's attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, affecting commercial shipping. The missi...

Gaza has borne the brunt of three months of war between Israel and Hamas. Mosques and churches have been destroyed. More than 200 out of Gaza’s 325 heritage sites, many of them centuries old, are gone. Israel’s weapons have killed, injured and maimed tens of thousands. Many of the wounded are being left to bleed while others are arrested, stripped and blindfolded. For Israel, the shocking and unpr...

2024 will be a big year in global politics. A slew of important general elections will be held across the developing world – in India, Pakistan and Indonesia, to name but three. Wars may continue to rage in Gaza, Ukraine, Syria, Sudan, Myanmar and elsewhere, driving millions of people deeper into poverty and displacement. Though there is some hope that in at least some of these conflicts, there re...

For the past 11 weeks, life has been brutally disrupted in Gaza. 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, the majority women and children, and over 50,000 wounded.   The ongoing humanitarian crisis has left more than a quarter of the population starving, according to the UN. The flow of aid into Gaza is far from sufficient, and the distribution process poses its own set of challenges, leaving those i...

The global stocktake, or what is now known as the UAE Consensus, is the first-ever climate deal to transition away from fossil fuel - and it has been unanimously approved by almost 200 nations in Dubai. This is significant, as no previous Cop text has mentioned moving away from oil and gas.   It took over two weeks of negotiations that intensified in the last days of the summit as several key play...

It has been a week of big announcements at the Cop28 in Dubai – from action on the loss and damage fund to pledges to reduce methane gas emissions. But as the UN climate summit in Dubai enters in final days, much work is still to be done to help keep global temperature rises to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Heads of state and government, ministers, captains of industry, decision makers, exper...

The UAE’s 52nd Union Day, which falls on the 2nd of December, is special this year. It coincides with Cop28, the international climate summit taking place at Expo City in Dubai.   2023 is also the UAE’s Year of Sustainability – demonstrating the country’s commitment to support action and innovation in the field. This year has witnessed many initiatives, activities, collective action and events tha...

For decades, the relationship between the United States and Arab countries has been complex and multifaceted, and defined by a combination of geopolitical interests, economic ties and regional conflicts. This often-fraught relationship has been affected by many factors, including the Arab-Israeli conflict, regional power dynamics and US military interventions. With the current war between Israel a...

We’re almost six weeks into the Israel-Gaza war and few believe it will end any time soon. Calls for ceasefires from the international community have fallen on deaf ears and hostage release negotiations are proving fruitless. But end at some point, it must.   And when it does, what will peace look like – for Gaza, for Hamas, for Israel?   This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher is joi...

The US is feeling the pressure of the war in Gaza because of the way President Joe Biden is deemed to be handling the conflict. In the days after the October 7 Hamas attacks, Mr Biden visited Israel and expressed his staunch support for the country. But as civilian casualties rise in Gaza, the Biden administration has begun to call for temporary pauses in hostilities and for more humanitarian aid...

A month ago, the military wing of Hamas attacked the Israeli border on October 7th, killing more than 1,400 Israelis and igniting a brutal war. Israel retaliated through a relentless bombing of Gaza and its people, saying Hamas militants were its only targets. However, the civilian death toll has passed 10,000. A mass attack by Israeli armoured divisions was predicted as a response. However, Prime...

Life in Gaza has been nothing but harrowing for a month now. Fighting between Hamas and the Israeli military has intensified, with Israel saying the war has now entered its second phase, as its army surrounds Gaza. But civilians are still paying the highest cost of this war. More than 9,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including more than 3,600 children, since October 7, which has seen an atta...

There is a whiff of war in Lebanon. Haunted by memories of previous conflicts, many Lebanese are worried about a major escalation, and preparing for the worst. Families have packed emergency bags in case they need to suddenly be evacuated. People have begun stockpiling medicine and water. In Tyre, the urban soundscape is occasionally interrupted by the sound of bombardment coming from the frontier...

The world’s attention has turned to a corner of the Sinai region of Egypt. The location is the Rafah Crossing, where for days lorries laden with aid have queued to enter the Palestinian territory from Egypt. On the other side of the crossing, Palestinians and dual nationals trapped in Gaza wait under Israeli rocket fire in the hope of being able to leave. But Egypt finds itself in an impossible si...

In September, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood in front of world leaders at the UN General Assembly and displayed two maps: one showing Israel’s isolation at the time of its creation in 1948, and another showing the Arab countries that have normalised relations with it. He referred to a “new Middle East”.   That came amid US-led talks aimed at Israel and Saudi Arabia establishing f...

The world is now witnessing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Thousands of residents have been killed or injured by 10 days of airstrikes. Hospitals and medical facilities are struggling to operate, and the enclave has no access to food, fuel, electricity or a clean water supply. Ambulances and lorries full of humanitarian supplies are currently queuing on the Egyptian border with Gaza, waiting for a...

Israel was taken by surprise a week ago when Hamas stormed across its border. The surprise attack has had huge ramifications in the Middle East and for the world. Leaders in western countries have backed Israel and said that the country has ‘’the right to defend itself’’ as it goes after Hamas with a bombing campaign in densely populated Gaza. This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Ismaeel Naar s...

At 6.30am on Saturday, October 7, Hamas fighters crossed from Gaza into southern Israel as more than 5,000 rockets were fired by the militants from the enclave into towns and cities. The group called the attack Operation Al Aqsa Flood. In the hours and days that followed, more than 1,000 people have been killed on both sides as fighters opened fire at a music festival and then staged running battl...

The next UK election may be more than a year away but the race for No 10 Downing Street has already begun. Take this week Conservative conference in Manchester, with the governing party presenting themselves as agents of change – despite having been in power for 13 years and counting. Expect more salesmanship next week when pretenders Labour, who are well ahead in the polls, gather in Liverpool.  ...

A landmark agreement to open diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel seems to be approaching. In a recent interview with Fox News, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said his country is moving closer to establishing relations with Israel.   Such a deal would mean the expansion of the Abraham Accords, which were signed three years ago with the US as a broker, and normalised relatio...

From the flash floods in Libya and the earthquakes in Morocco, Turkey and Syria, to the raging wildfires that scorched Maui and the hurricanes and typhoons that left devastation in their wake in the US: it's impossible to ignore the growing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. 2023 has been marked by a series of apparently natural disasters. But just how natural were they? And how mu...

You can’t control a storm. Especially one as bad as Storm Daniel.  But when two dams which hadn’t been maintained since 2002 break; when authorities tell thousands of people to stay at home instead of evacuating them the night that Derna was swept into the sea; then you start to wonder, how much more could have been done to prevent the deaths of 11,000 people? Entire neighbourhoods gone. Families...

Thousands have died, families have been separated and homes reduced to rubble by the sudden devastation that struck Morocco on the night of September 8.   As rescue crews search for the missing, the nation is grappling with the aftermath of the biggest natural disaster to hit the country in 120 years.   This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Phil Green looks at what happened when the earthquake s...

Sultan Al Neyadi is the first Arab to serve on the International Space Station for a six-month mission, the first Arab to perform a spacewalk and one of the first two astronauts from the UAE, along with Hazza Al Mansouri. Dr Al Neyadi has joined a very select group of people, becoming one of only 270 people from 21 different countries to have visited the International Space Station. His stint in o...

Unique and empowered. This is what it feels to be an Emirati woman. It is a blend of embracing one's roots and cultural identity, while evolving every day in a dynamic and diverse country, to contribute to the development of the nation. For that reason, every year on August 28, Emirati women come together to appreciate their efforts, celebrate their work and highlight their achievements.   The Emi...