Well, this is ironic multiple ways. Israel was forced to apologize to Morocco after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was seen in a video displaying a map of the Middle East and North Africa—that failed to show the occupied (and illegally annexed) territory of Western Sahara as within the kingdom's borders. Netanyahu brandished the map in a May 30 interview with a French TV channel, showing what he called "the Arab world" in green, a swath of near-contiguous territory from Iraq to Mauritania—contrasting small, isolated Israel, "the one and only Jewish state." The point, as usual, being Israel's supposed vulnerability and (by implication, at least) delegitimization of Palestinian claims—as if all Arabs were an undifferentiated mass and 7 million Palestinians could decamp for Jordan or Egypt and be content. (The operative word in Israeli political rhetoric being "transfer.")

Security forces of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist militia that controls much of northwest Syria, put down protests that broke out in cities and towns across Idlib province on May 17. In the Idlib cities of Binnish and Jisr al-Shughour, HTS forces beat protesters with batons, deployed armored vehicles, and fired tear-gas and even live rounds to disperse demonstrations calling for the fall of the militia group and its leader, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani. Since then, HTS has increased security in the region, establishing checkpoints and roadblocks, especially aimed at preventing protesters from gathering in the provincial capital, Idlib City. Protests against HTS rule have been mounting in Syria's northwest since the start of the year. (Syria Direct, The New Arab)

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are preparing to sue the European Commission over the 7.4-billion-euro aid package extended to Egypt in March, aimed at stopping migration. The deal—similar to others the EU has pursued in recent years—has been criticized for ignoring human rights concerns. "Throwing money at dictators is not migration policy," one MEP said. On May 2, the EU announced a 1-billion-euro aid package for Lebanon, also aimed at stemming migration.

The Cyprus spokesperson for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Emilia Strovolidou, has urged the country to stop forcibly pushing away Syrian refugee boats arriving from Lebanon, a practice that violates international human rights law and the principle of non-refoulement. According to reports from the Associated Press and monitoring group EuroMed Rights, Strovolidou accused Cyprus authorities of using "violent" tactics to "destabilize" boats in order to thwart refugees from arriving on the island's shores. (Jurist)

The German Federal Criminal Police on April 11 arrested a suspect identified as Sohail A, said to be a former member of the Syrian insurgent group Liwa Jund al-Rahman and the Islamic State. Both are designated "terrorist organizations" by the German government, making membership an offense under Section 129a of the Criminal Code. Sohail A is also accused of participating in war crimes incuding forced displacement, breaching Section 8 of the International Criminal Code.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt was sworn in for a third term April 2 after being re-elected in a December vote in which he faced no serious challengers. He took the oath of office before parliament, which convened in the New Administrative Capital in the desert outside Cairo. El-Sisi won by 89.6% of the vote in the election, running against three virtually unknown opponents. First elected in 2014 (after coming to power in the previous year's coup d'etat), then re-elected in 2018, el-Sisi was allowed a third term under constitutional amendments passed in a 2019 referendum. In addition to allowing a third run, the reform also extended his terms from four to six years. Another such reform allowing him to stay in office beyond 2030 has been broached. (Poitico, Al Jazeera)

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria released a report March 11 concerning the most severe escalation of violence in the country since 2020. Explosions during a military academy graduation ceremony in Homs triggered the escalation, which began in October, leading to a series of indiscriminate attacks by Syrian and Russian forces on opposition-held areas. The commission emphasizes that these attacks may constitute war crimes, targeting hospitals, schools, markets, and displaced persons camps.

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of Switzerland indicted former Syrian vice president Rifaat al-Assad on March 12, referring him to the Federal Criminal Court for trial. The OAG accuses al-Assad of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity while serving as commander of a military operation in the city of Hama in February 1982. The OAG charged al-Assad with ordering homicides, acts of torture, cruel treatment and illegal detentions against civilians during the operation, which came to be known as the Hama Massacre. Government forces had been deployed to Hama to suppress the Islamist opposition, particularly a faction of the Muslim Brotherhood. The OAG notes that the month-long operation led to thousands of deaths in the city, the majority civilians, with estimates of the final toll ranging between 3,000 and 60,000.