War Hysteria!

CrossFireArabia
Opinion
March 3, 2026

By Ahmad Theiban

The strange thing is that the same scenario is being repeated from the recent war launched by Israel and the United States against Iran on 28 February. That war began with the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with dozens of military and civilian leaders, in a single strike during a meeting he was chairing. This is the same scenario that unfolded in the 12-day war in June 2025, which began with the elimination of military leaders and nuclear scientists in that first strike!

Moreover, and this is another paradox, the June 2025 war began during negotiations between Washington and Tehran on the nuclear issue. The same scenario is repeating itself in the current war in 2026, while nuclear negotiations between the two sides were ongoing, with a new date set for them this week!

It is also noteworthy that the image of Khamenei after his assassination, under the rubble, reached the Israeli government and spread on social media, indicating a human breach that leaked the image to Israel!

It seems the Iranian regime has lost its composure and reached an unprecedented state of hysteria. It has targeted all the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain, and Qatar) with ballistic missiles. Even Oman, which was leading mediation efforts between Washington and the Iranian regime, was not spared. Iranian drones bombed one of its ports, and the missiles targeted civilian sites, residential areas, and airports, despite the regime’s claim that the missiles were aimed at American bases in the region.

Ironically, all the Arab Gulf states were pushing to avoid a new war with Iran, but it seems the Iranian regime has failed to learn its lesson!

The strange irony is that the same scenario played out when Israel assassinated Hassan Nasrallah, the former leader of Hezbollah. Israeli intelligence learned of his location in a multi-story underground building in Haret Hreik in Beirut’s southern suburbs. The same thing happened with his expected successor, Hashem Safieddine, and dozens of Hezbollah’s top military and political leaders. This also points to a significant human infiltration within Hezbollah, where crucial information about the whereabouts of its leaders was leaked.

Here, I’d like to borrow a term attributed to the late Hassan Nasrallah, used in the context of a threat to Israel. He declared that the occupying state was “on its knees,” fearing a Hezbollah invasion of the Galilee region in northern occupied Palestine. I believe this expression can aptly be applied today to describe the escalating conflict between the United States and Israel on one side, and Iran on the other. Or, more accurately, the world is on tenterhooks awaiting the outcome of this war.

It was clear to anyone with even a basic understanding of politics that the massive US naval buildup, including two giant aircraft carriers—the USS Gerald R. Ford, which arrived at the port of Haifa in northern Israel, and the USS Abraham Lincoln—could accommodate approximately 180 fighter jets of various types, including helicopters. This buildup, along with the deployment of F-22 fighter jets to Israel, was part of a broader effort to bolster the US military presence in the Middle East. Furthermore, at least 14 US Air Force refueling aircraft also arrived in Israel, all in preparation for an attack on Iran. This entire force was not there for tourism!

President Trump himself declared during his State of the Union address last Tuesday: “One thing is certain: I will never allow the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism to possess a nuclear weapon. It cannot be allowed to happen. No nation should ever doubt America’s resolve.” He warned: “We have the most powerful military on earth.” Yet, the Iranian regime failed to grasp the message.

For weeks, the US and Israel have been threatening military action against Iran to force it to abandon its nuclear and missile programs and its proxies in the region—the militias that Iran has created, trained, and armed.

Despite the overwhelming US military power, the campaign against Iran continues to present complex challenges. With the prospects for a diplomatic breakthrough significantly diminished, the new war against Iran is now in its third day.

Despite President Trump’s repeated pronouncements of preferring diplomacy and negotiations, Vice President Vance’s meeting with the Omani Foreign Minister to encourage him to continue negotiations, and Secretary of State Rubio’s assertion that diplomacy remains President Trump’s preferred option, it seems no one in Tehran is listening. The only discourse there is a reiteration of rigid principles and ideologies.

This article is a translation of its Arabic version that appeared in Al Rai daily in Jordan.

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

Opinion

Kareem Khan – Chronology of a Scandal: A View From Amman

Saleem Ayoub Quna
July 29, 2026

By Saleem Ayoub Quna

Another somber episode in the ongoing Middle East saga is about to be quietly scrapped by manipulative overt hands and emerging developments, that are no less than disappointing!

The story of the main character of this episode began long time ago in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1970, when a child was born to a dermatologist Scottish mother and a Pakistani father of the same trade!

The child was named Kareem Asad Ahmad Khan, who grew up to educate himself in Law, later to pursue a judicial career, until he landed as top job in The Hague, the Netherland, in 2021, and eventually becoming the Chief Persecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

It was at this juncture that he replaced Ms. Fatou Bensouda, a lady of Gambian origin, who was seeking to investigate the never-ending tragic situation in Gaza and the West Bank under the Israeli military occupation.

Scuffle With Mossad

Bensouda stepped down after 17 years of service at the ICC, including the last nine years as Chief Prosecutor. On her point of departure, she made it clear that the Israeli head of intelligence, Yossi Cohen, met her more than once and told her to drop the charges she was making against Israel’s actions in the two Palestinian territories, but she would not bow, until she officially resigned on 15 June, 2021.

And so since the beginning of his new appointment the new chief prosecutor, and like his predecessor, Khan was charged of continuing to investigate cases, situations and/or individuals suspected of offenses such as genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and aggression, where and whenever, they occurred, whether in Ukraine, Darfur, Belarus, Afghanistan or in Gaza and which indeed become his nightmare, magnified by an Israeli genocide on all accounts that began on 7 October 2023 and lasted for 2 years, 9 months and more, and was declared ‘De Jure’ in October 2025.

No one warned Mr. Khan that he was stepping into a thick minefield, or if they did, he would only listen to his heart and conscience! For that, he must have been bracing for the worse, for himself, and probably for the thousands of war victims he was investigating.

The war in Gaza led to the death and injury of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, (nearly 75,000 dead and more than 200,000 injured), whereas for the Israelis, they suffered 1200 dead and at least over 5000 injured.

So, in May 2024, Khan adopting a “balanced” position despite the flagrant disparity between the two sides on all levels, announced the arrest warrants for five main individuals directly involved in Gaza war: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and the top three leaders in Hamas: Yehya Sinwar, Mohammd Dief and Ismail Haniyeh.

Days after the issuance of these arrest warrants, the name of a certain local female employee (known only as Sarah) suddenly popped up at the ICC, as the alleged victim of sexual harassment at the hands of non-other than the honorable Chief Prosecutor, Kareem Khan!

In an orchestrated follow up, the US Treasury Department in February 2024 imposed sanctions on Khan, after President Donald Trump sanctioned the ICC judges for issuing the said arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Galant.

And in May 2025 Khan stepped down as Chief Prosecutor due to the said allegations of sexual misconduct, and was suspended pending a vote by the state members of the ICC.

In July 2026 Khan was ousted from his post as 82 out of 125 ICC member states voted, in secret, in favor of his dismissal!

As for the Palestinian leaders who were also involved in that war, Israel took things in their hands and ended the life of the three Hamas leaders: Mohammd Deif was killed in Khan Younes on 13 July 2024, Yehya Sinwar killed in the same city on 16 October, 2024 and Ismael Haniyeh was assassinated in faraway Tehran on 31 July, 2024.

The question now is whether the candidate for the Chief Prosecutor post at the ICC, will follow suit in the footsteps of his two predecessors, regarding the unfinished business of atrocities and war crimes around the globe, or will he/she be somebody of a new breed of international prosecutors?

Soon we may have a clue! But personally, I am not optimistic!

Opinion

West Bank: A Ticking Time-Bomb

CrossFireArabia
July 28, 2026

By Ismail Al Sharif

Imagine you are sitting with your children at home when a violent knock shakes the door. You open it to find a blond, European-looking man holding a weapon in one hand and a Torah or Talmud in the other, with soldiers behind him.

He orders you to leave the house, saying: “God gave me this house 3000 years ago.” You reply, “But it’s my home; I was born here, and my father and grandfather were born here before me.”

They push you aside, storm into your house, and throw your furniture outside. Your children cry, they throw your wife out, and your blood boils. You wrest the weapon from the blond man and shoot him. They kill you, and then a bulldozer comes to demolish your house.

The next day, the world’s newspapers headline: “Army kills terrorist after he tried to attack occupation soldiers.”

You might go out in the morning to graze your sheep, and in the distance, you see a few fair-haired young men who have pitched a tent on a fenced-off plot of land on a hill. At first, the scene seems fleeting, but soon you see them approaching your land, wandering among your olive trees and your flock, then attacking you, stealing your livestock, and burning your trees.

After that, they seize part of your land and annex it to the area they have taken over. The fence extends day by day, growing longer and wider. Over time, your land, and the land of your relatives, friends, and all the people of your village, becomes part of the nucleus of a new settlement.

Roads change, streets are closed, and checkpoints are erected, until reaching a place only a few hundred meters away becomes a journey that takes hours.

These scenes are repeated daily in the West Bank, where settlers terrorize, assault, and kill Palestinians under the protection of the occupation army, while ministers from the occupation government appear in the background of these attacks. The goal is clear: To empty the West Bank of its original inhabitants, both Muslims and Christians, and uproot them from their land, paving the way for its seizure and Judaization.

All of this is happening in full view of the world, amidst President Donald Trump’s objections and the condemnation of the international community, at a time when his 20-point peace plan was announced in a celebratory atmosphere on September 29th of last year.

However, time has revealed that this plan was nothing but ink on paper. The occupation continues to control over 60% of the Gaza Strip, demolishing buildings and bulldozing agricultural lands in the areas under its control. It also continues its daily bombardment of the Strip, which, since the plan’s launch, has resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 Gazans and injured more than 3,600 others. This is while the siege continues and humanitarian aid is prevented from entering.

As for the West Bank, settlement outposts have expanded, and the occupation government recognized 19 additional settlements after the plan’s launch. This coincides with an unprecedented escalation in settler attacks, the continued demolition of homes and displacement of their residents, as well as the ongoing incursions into Palestinian cities, villages, and refugee camps.

The government of war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu makes no secret of its plans to annex the West Bank and thwart any attempt to establish a Palestinian state, while its leader orders the occupation army to launch continuous military campaigns in West Bank cities, villages, and refugee camps.

The West Bank today sits atop a powder keg, fueled by accumulated feelings of anger, fear, frustration, and resentment, awaiting a spark that could ignite the situation. Then, the sporadic confrontations could transform into a widespread popular uprising, which could very well extend beyond the borders of the West Bank.

No one knows how wide the circle of confrontation might widen, where it might spread, or the extent of the repercussions it might have in Jerusalem, the Palestinian territories within Israel, and neighboring countries. Arab governments and their armies may find themselves facing mounting popular and political pressure, pushing them either to engage in a confrontation they do not want, or to take positions and actions they have long sought to avoid.

This article was originally written in Arabic by Ismail Al Sharif and published in Jordan’s daily newspaper Ad Dustour and is reprinted in crossfirearabia.com. Mr Al Sharif long worked in newspaper management and publishing in Amman.