Syria: Prosecuting Assad-era security officials

Hamas announced this week that it had dissolved the de facto government, saying it was ready to hand over power to a group of technocrats appointed by Donald Trump's Board of Peace. Israel dismissed the move as a stunt. But with the Israeli military continuing to bomb Gaza despite the ostensible ceasefire, while controlling more than 60 per cent of the territory, and with the technocratic committee still outside the enclave, who is really in charge?

In this edition of Middle East Matters, Nadia Massih is pleased to welcome our Jerusalem correspondent Noga Tarnopolsky as well as Amberin Zaman, chief correspondent for Al Monitor, a Washington-based independent news organisation that covers the Middle East and North Africa. Zaman argues that Israel's apparent recognition of the Armenian genocide is less a principled historical reckoning than a "nakedly cynical" strategy shaped by the Gaza war, tensions with Turkey and shifting regional alliances.

More Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries are competing in the 2026 World Cup than at any previous tournament, much to the delight of fans from Morocco to Jordan. But as always with sports, politics is never far from the pitch. Iran, of course, springs to mind. Never before has a country hosted a World Cup while at war with one of the competing nations.

The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is at the heart of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the United States and Iran. Under the terms of the deal, the US will immediately lift its blockade of Iranian ports. The Islamic Republic, for its part, will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and charge no toll for commercial vessels for a period of 60 days. However, the presence of sea mines in the vital waterway could be a cause for concern. Our correspondent Reza Sayah reports from the Strait of Hormuz.

After weeks of US President Donald Trump insisting that a deal with Iran is just around the corner, violence has flared up again. Part of the challenge for Trump is that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu no longer have the same priorities. Washington wants an out from a war that's roiling oil markets and is increasingly unpopular at home. But Netanyahu faces elections by the end of October and has a criminal investigation hanging over him. His political survival is once again at the heart of his geo-strategic calculations. We take a closer look and get expert analysis in this edition.

In the show this week, we look at how Syria could benefit from the oil crisis triggered by tensions in the Strait of Hormuz. After Iran effectively closed the strategic waterway, Syria's Mediterranean port of Baniyas found itself emerging as a hub for crude oil transported overland from the UAE and Iraq. Could Syria – a country in desperate need of investment after 14 years of civil war – establish itself as a new energy corridor, even after the Gulf conflict is over? Neil Quilliam, Associate Fellow for the Middle East at Chatham House and a specialist in energy policy, joins us to discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by these new export routes.

A United Nations commission, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have all separately concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, where tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war in October 2023. The cultural life of the enclave is also profoundly threatened, with historic buildings destroyed and writers, poets and academics among that huge death toll.

Nadia Massih is pleased to welcome Dr Andreas Krieg, Senior Lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King's College London and Fellow at the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies. According to Krieg, "Iran is fighting a war against the global economy." By targeting the UAE, and especially Dubai, Tehran is not merely retaliating militarily but seeking to exploit what Krieg calls the "Achilles heel" of the international system: the Gulf's hyperconnected financial and logistical infrastructure.

The new Syrian administration is trying to provide justice for the tens of thousands tortured and hundreds of thousands more killed by the regime of former dictator Bashar al-Assad. But is enough being done to investigate and prosecute those accused? Some tentative steps have been taken. A trial is underway in Damascus of Assad himself and his brother Maher, although neither are in the country and are being tried in absentia.

While the events of October 7, 2023, may have pushed some Israelis and Palestinians apart, Maoz Inon and Aziz Abu Sarah say they've become like brothers. When Maoz lost his parents in the attacks, Aziz, who himself lost a brother during the first intifada, reached out in a gesture of friendship. Their extraordinary story and the deep optimism they feel for the future is told in a new book, "The Future is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land". They spoke to FRANCE 24's Haxie Meyers-Belkin.