Sam Dagher

Belated thank you to the @FT for putting “Assad or We Burn the Country: How One Family’s Lust for Power Destroyed Syria” on the list of best 12 books “shedding light on the conflict in #Syria & its place in the wider power struggles across the Middle East” ft.com/content/d889cf…

‌Iraq ​​declares ‌force majeure ⁠on all oilfields developed ​by foreign oil companies, ⁠as attacks in ⁠the ‌region have ‌disrupted navigation through ‌the ‌Strait ​of ⁠Hormuz, ​preventing most of ​the country’s crude exports from ⁠moving, oil ministry sources say.

No New Year video message from Mojtaba Khamenei. The setup for Pezeshkian’s #Iran's new Year message is amateurish and messy. Both point to a system under visible strain.

UAE air defences engage 4 ballistic missiles, 26 UAVs The UAE air defence systems on 20th March 2026 engaged 4 ballistic missiles and 26 UAVs launched from Iran. Since the onset of the blatant Iranian aggression, UAE air defences have engaged 338 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles and 1,740 UAVs. These attacks have resulted in the martyrdom of 2 members of the armed forces while performing their national duty, as well as 6 fatalities of Pakistani, Nepali, Bangladeshi and Palestinian nationalities. A total of 158 people were also injured, with injuries ranging from minor to moderate and severe. The injured included nationals of the UAE, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Iran, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan, Yemen, Uganda, Eritrea, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Comoros, Türkiye, Iraq, Nepal, Nigeria, Oman, Jordan, Palestine, Ghana, Indonesia, Sweden and Tunisia. The Ministry of Defence affirmed that it remains fully prepared and ready to deal with any threats, and will firmly confront any attempts to undermine State security in a manner that ensures the protection of its sovereignty, security and stability, and safeguards its national interests and capabilities. #وزارة_الدفاع #وزارة_الدفاع_الإماراتية #MOD #UAEMinistryOfDefence

PMF cultural head Hashim al-Haidari here attacks the Kurdistan Region for being a den of Mossad. Question: Since he has an official position within the Iraqi government, do his views reflect the federal government’s? If not, will there be any accountability for such incitement to and justification of violence against Kurdistan? And, habibi, Mossad controls your “umm al-qura” Tehran—below, on, and above the ground.

Ali Larijani’s successor, Hossein Dehghan, holds a PhD in Management. He was one of the students who occupied the US embassy in Tehran. He also commanded the IRGC forces in Lebanon and was among the orchestrators of the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut. The look on his face says it all.

The spokesman for paramilitary Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has been killed in an airstrike early Friday, Iranian state television reported. - @AP

APNewsAlert: DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (@AP) — #Iran's supreme leader says enemies' 'security must be taken away' after intelligence minister's killing.

Iranian General Ismail Ahmadi, the head of intelligence for the Basij forces, has been killed, Iranian media report.

On the first day of Eid Al Fitr, a message of hope and solidarity to all citizens and residents of the #UAE from President Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan

@yarotrof @opcofamerica @WSJ Congrats comrade

Honored to win the Overseas Press Club’s Flora Lewis award 🏆 @opcofamerica for best commentary on international news — third time lucky after being a runner-up twice! From Greenland to China, these @WSJ pieces seek to explain the new world of raw power and imperial ambitions that is emerging from the ruins of the international order. opcofamerica.org/87th-annual-ov…

The State Security Department announced the dismantling of a terrorist network funded and operated by Hezbollah and Iran, and the arrest of its members. The network had been operating within the country under the cover of a fictitious commercial entity, seeking to infiltrate the national economy and implement plans that threaten financial stability. The network carried out a pre-planned strategy in coordination with external parties linked to Hezbollah and Iran, violating economic and legal regulations to engage in money laundering, terrorist financing, and activities that threaten national security. The Agency affirmed that any attempt to exploit the national economy or civil institutions for terrorist or conspiratorial purposes will be met with firmness, and no external interference that threatens the security or stability of the state will be tolerated, regardless of its source.

Qatar’s gas empire comes under fire writes Andrew England @cornishft giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/ac…

Each week the world’s largest liquefied natural gas plant remains shut, the world loses the equivalent of enough energy to power Sydney’s homes for an entire year. Buyers are now bracing for an outage that could ripple through markets for years bloomberg.com/news/features/…

“The speed of the Iranian retaliation for the South Pars attack was evidence that the United States had not gained what military strategists call ‘escalation dominance,’ the ability to keep an adversary from further escalating its response” nytimes.com/2026/03/19/us/… via @NYTimes

March 19 (Reuters) - The Saudi port of Yanbu, one of two major remaining export routes for Gulf Arab oil after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, has stopped oil loadings, two sources told Reuters on Thursday, after the Saudi defence ministry said it intercepted a ballistic missile over the city. The ministry said earlier that a drone crashed at the SAMREF refinery, with damage assessment underway.

New wartime billboards around the UAE — where the vast majority of residents are not Emirati citizens.

The gloves are off....Very tough statement by Saudi FM @FaisalbinFarhan about the destruction wrought by Iran across the region, now and in prior years via its proxy militias. Saudi-Iran détente signed in March 2023, always a mere tactical move, served its purposes for two years, but is now definitively dead.

As death toll surpasses 1,000, war in #Lebanon opens the door to all scenarios from Israeli occupation to UN Chapter VII today.lorientlejour.com/article/149991…

For the past three weeks, one ship captain has been sitting in the Gulf atop two million barrels of crude oil, listening to occasional sounds of explosions overhead. Onboard his 300-meter-long tanker, he and his crew play basketball and watch movies bloomberg.com/graphics/2026-…

The complex that houses the world’s largest liquefied natural gas export plant has suffered “extensive damage” after an Iranian attack, hours after Tehran warned of threats to energy facilities across the Gulf. “It’s now hard to see Qataris coming back to the market before the middle of the year and even that is ambitious,” said Ira Joseph, global fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…