Simon Speakman Cordall

Simon Speakman Cordall is a section editor with The Arab Weekly.

Author Articles

Desperate measures. Displaced Syrians climb fences and hold signs during a protest in front of a UN base in the province of Quneitra near the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, on July 4. (AFP)
Against conflicted alliances, Russia maintains its diplomatic balancing act
July 21, 2018
Spearhead of Iran’s expansionist policy. Major-General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s al-Quds Force. (AFP)
Extremists involved in discussing deal with Qatar
July 21, 2018
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Wednesday, July 11, 2018. (AP)
Netanyahu presses Iranian withdrawal from Syria in meeting with Putin
July 12, 2018
Face of desperation. An internally displaced elderly woman gestures during a protest in Quneitra near the Golan Heights, on July 4.(Reuters)
Syria’s humanitarian crisis threatens to stretch the region to breaking point
July 07, 2018
Storm clouds. Smoke rises above opposition-held areas of the Daraa province countryside during air strikes by Syrian regime forces, on June 27. (AFP)
Further escalation likely after Iranian involvement in Damascus’s offensive
June 30, 2018
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu speaks during a presentation in Jerusalem, on June 14. (Reuters)
Air strike on Iraqi border signals growing risks of Syrian conflict
June 23, 2018
Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) gather at the al-Tanak oil field as they prepare to relaunch a military campaign against Islamic State militants, near Abu Kamal, province of Deir Ezzor, in eastern Syria, on May 1. (AFP)
Syria’s desert, the staging ground for ISIS’s continued insurgency
June 13, 2018
Festering within the ruins: Civil defense workers and civilians inspecting damaged buildings after airstrikes hit in the village of Zardana, in Idlib province, Syria, on June 8. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP)
New jihadist threat looms in Syria’s Idlib
June 08, 2018
Contested territory. A UN Truce Supervision Organisation observer uses binoculars near the border with Syria in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, on May 11. (Reuters)
Syria’s neighbours steel themselves for the regime’s push south-west
June 01, 2018
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rohani arrive for a joint news conference in Ankara, last April. (Reuters)
Cracks start to show in Syria’s unlikely alliances
May 26, 2018
Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah speaks on a screen via a video link in the southern suburbs of Beirut, on May 14. (AP)
In Lebanon, Gaza killings bring shock but also added fuel to political narratives
May 19, 2018
For better or worse. Ali Akbar Velayati (L), top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, talks with Lebanon’s Hezbollah Deputy Leader Naim Qassem during a conference in Beirut. (Reuters)
US and Gulf countries announce fresh Hezbollah sanctions
May 19, 2018
An image released by the government-affiliated ‘Central War Media’ in Syria purportedly shows Syrian air defence systems intercepting Israeli missiles over Damascus' airspace, on May 10. (AFP / CENTRAL WAR MEDIA).
Syria strikes long prophesised but war not foretold
May 12, 2018
A supporter of Lebanon’s Hezbollah gestures as he holds a Hezbollah flag in Marjayoun, on May 7. (Reuters)
Hezbollah’s electoral ascendancy risks pulling Lebanon further into Syria’s morass
May 12, 2018
Israeli soldiers walk among armored vehicles in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, on May 10. (Reuters)
Israel claims it ‘hit nearly all the Iranian infrastructure in Syria’ in significant escalation
May 10, 2018
Rabbis visit a Jewish school in Djerba, Tunisia.
Conference of European Rabbis visits Tunisia, feels ‘more optimism today’
May 09, 2018
A Jewish woman prays at the Ghriba Synagogue in Djerba, on May 2. (Reuters)
Regional tensions do not preclude Jewish festival in Tunisia’s Djerba
May 05, 2018
A picture from social media showing fire in what purported to be the Mountain 47 region, countryside south of Hama city, Syria, on April 29. (Abody Ahfad Khaled via Reuters).
Washington could determine next stage of Israel-Iran escalation
May 01, 2018
A missile of an anti-aircraft defence mobile missile system is seen in front of a missile launched from the S-300 system. (Reuters)
In the face of international confusion, Russia maintains Syria policy
April 28, 2018
UN vehicles are seen outside the hotel where experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons are staying in Damascus, on April 19. (AFP)
Syria strikes bring sound and fury but do not signify much
April 21, 2018