Poll finds that Arab street has no stance on Russia-Ukraine conflict
Experts highlight that general Arab opinion might be echoing the perspectives of their respective governments
Among the Gulf states, 22 percent of respondents sided with Ukraine
Updated 31 May 2022
Leen Fouad
LONDON: The majority of people in the Arab world have no stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, a striking finding from a region that has been directly economically impacted by the war, a new Arab News-YouGov survey has found.
Out of 7,835 respondents from the Arab world, 66 percent did not have a view on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, compared with 18 percent who sided with Ukraine, and 16 percent who sided with Russia.
“When you talk about public opinion, it’s much more about everyday life, in that sense the conflict is further away, it’s further away than issues that are much more important and much more immediate,” Tobias Brock, associate fellow and Middle East expert at the Royal United Services Institute, told Arab News.
“The conflict is, first of all, geographically farther away than the war in Syria, or the conflict in Yemen, or the conflict in Libya or what is going on in Israel and Palestine right now,” he said.
Brock, with Jack Senogles, recently wrote a paper on the implications of the Russia-Ukraine war for countries in the MENA region. In their paper, the authors explain that “most Middle Eastern states have been so slow off the mark in formulating their positions vis-a-vis Russia and its war.”
Experts highlight that general Arab opinion might be echoing the perspectives of their respective governments, which also see the war as a European conflict.
The survey also reveals that the majority of respondents who sided with Russia came mainly from 4 out of 14 countries surveyed: Algeria (19 percent), Oman (19 percent), Qatar (19 percent) and Tunisia (18 percent).
Meanwhile in Jordan, respondents who did take a stand were divided equally (13 percent) between Russia and Ukraine.
Both Ukraine and Russia are among the top wheat exporters in the world (about 29 percent of global supply), and on which many countries in the Arab region depend. One would assume, for example, that Egyptians — who source 85 percent of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine combined — would be more opinionated about the conflict.
Among the Gulf states, 22 percent of respondents sided with Ukraine, compared with 15 percent with Russia. While the difference is somewhat insignificant, two Gulf states stand out for favoring Russia over Ukraine, namely Oman and Qatar, both with 19 percent of respondents favoring Russia.
Oman and Russia have enjoyed good bilateral relations, particularly in the past few years as Muscat seeks to diversify its relations with non-Western powers. Trade between both countries have also increased significantly, growing by 62 percent in 2018.
In early May, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Oman to discuss trade. The two countries have announced a wide package of bilateral agreements, including a mutual visa exemption program.
Much like other Arab states, Oman did not take a concrete stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict but affirmed its position that the two countries should reach political and diplomatic solutions through dialogue.
While state attitudes do not necessarily determine how the general public will side in a conflict, experts believe that sometimes public opinion mirrors state behavior, which might explain the slightly higher than average position of Oman on the Russia-Ukraine war.
Airports close across the Mideast as the Israel-Iran conflict shutters the region’s airspace
Many in the region fear a wider conflict as they watch waves of attacks across their skies every night
Updated 5 sec ago
AP
BEIRUT: After Israeli strikes landed near the hotel where he was staying in the Iranian province of Qom, Aimal Hussein desperately wanted to return home. But the 55-year-old Afghan businessman couldn’t find a way, with Iranian airspace completely shut down.
He fled to Tehran after the strike Sunday, but no taxi would take him to the border as the conflict between Iran and Israel intensified.
“Flights, markets, everything is closed, and I am living in the basement of a small hotel,” Hussein told The Associated Press by cellphone on Monday. “I am trying to get to the border by taxi, but they are hard to find, and no one is taking us.”
Israel launched a major attack Friday with strikes in the Iranian capital of Tehran and elsewhere, killing senior military officials, nuclear scientists, and destroying critical infrastructure. Among the targets was a nuclear enrichment facility about 18 miles from Qom. Iran has retaliated with hundreds of drones and missiles.
The dayslong attacks between the two bitter enemies have opened a new chapter in their turbulent recent history. Many in the region fear a wider conflict as they watch waves of attacks across their skies every night.
The conflict has forced most countries in the Middle East to close their airspace. Dozens of airports have stopped all flights or severely reduced operations, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded and others unable to flee the conflict or travel home.
Airport closures create ‘massive’ domino, tens of thousands stranded
“The domino effect here is massive,” said retired pilot and aviation safety expert John Cox, who said the disruptions will have a huge price tag.
“You’ve got thousands of passengers suddenly that are not where they’re supposed to be, crews that are not where they are supposed to be, airplanes that are not where they’re supposed to be,” he said.
Zvika Berg was on an El Al flight to Israel from New York when an unexpected message came from the pilot as they began their descent: “Sorry, we’ve been rerouted to Larnaca.” The 50-year-old Berg saw other Israel-bound El Al flights from Berlin and elsewhere landing at the airport in Cyprus. Now he’s waiting at a Larnaca hotel while speaking to his wife in Jerusalem. “I’m debating what to do,” Berg said.
Israel has closed its main international Ben Gurion Airport “until further notice,” leaving more than 50,000 Israeli travelers stranded abroad. The jets of the country’s three airlines have been moved to Larnaca.
In Israel, Mahala Finkleman was stuck in a Tel Aviv hotel after her Air Canada flight was canceled, trying to reassure her worried family back home while she shelters in the hotel’s underground bunker during waves of overnight Iranian attacks.
“We hear the booms. Sometimes there’s shaking,” she said. “The truth, I think it’s even scarier … to see from TV what happened above our heads while we were underneath in a bomb shelter.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office warned Israelis not to flee the country through any of the three crossings with Jordan and Egypt that are open to the Israeli public. Despite having diplomatic ties with Israel, the statement said those countries are considered a “high risk of threat” to Israeli travelers.
Iran on Friday suspended flights to and from the country’s main Khomeini International Airport on the outskirts of Tehran. Israel said Saturday that it bombed Mehrabad Airport in an early attack, a facility in Tehran for Iran’s air force and domestic commercial flights.
Many students unable to leave Iran, Iraq and elsewhere
Arsalan Ahmed is one of thousands of Indian university students stuck in Iran, with no way out. The medical student and other students in Tehran are not leaving the hostels where they live, horrified by the attacks with no idea of when they’ll find safety.
“It is very scary what we watch on television,” Ahmed said. “But scarier are some of the deafening explosions.” Universities have helped relocate many students to safer places in Iran, but the Indian government has not yet issued an evacuation plan for them.
Though airspace is still partially open in Lebanon and Jordan, the situation is chaotic at airports, with many passengers stranded locally and abroad with delayed and canceled flights even as the busy summer tourism season begins. Many airlines have reduced flights or stopped them altogether, and authorities have closed airports overnight when attacks are at their most intense. Syria, under new leadership, had just renovated its battered airports and begun restoring diplomatic ties when the conflict began.
Neighboring Iraq’s airports have all closed due to its close proximity to Iran. Israel reportedly used Iraqi airspace, in part, to launch its strikes on Iran, while Iranian drones and missiles flying the other way have been downed over Iraq. Baghdad has reached a deal with Turkiye that would allow Iraqis abroad to travel to Turkiye — if they can afford it — and return home overland through their shared border.
Some Iraqis stranded in Iran opted to leave by land. College student Yahia Al-Suraifi was studying in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz, where Israel bombed the airport and an oil refinery over the weekend.
Al-Suraifi and dozens of other Iraqi students pooled together their money to pay taxi drivers to drive 200 miles (320 kilometers) overnight to the border with northern Iraq with drones and airstrikes around them.
“It looked like fireworks in the night sky,” Al-Suraifi said. “I was very scared.”
By the time they reached the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, it was another 440 miles (710 kilometers) to get to his hometown of Nasiriyah in southern Iraq.
Back in Tehran, Hussein said the conflict brought back bitter memories of 20 years of war back home in Afghanistan.
“This is the second time I have been trapped in such a difficult war and situation,” he said, “once in Kabul and now in Iran.”
US forces still in ‘defensive posture’ in Mideast: White House
“We will defend American interests,” White House spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer added in a post on social media
Updated 5 min 40 sec ago
AFP
WASHINGTON: The White House insisted Monday evening that US forces remained in a “defensive” posture in the Middle East, despite a military buildup over the Israel-Iran war and a shock warning from President Donald Trump to evacuate Tehran.
Trump’s brief warning on social media, without further details, raised speculation that the United States may be readying to join Israel in attacking Iran.
Those suspicions rose further after it was announced that Trump would be leaving a G7 summit in Canada and returning to the White House a day early over the mounting Middle East conflict.
But White House and Pentagon officials reiterated that US forces in the region remained in a “defensive” posture.
White House spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer, replying to a post on social media that claimed the United States was attacking in Iran, said: “This is not true.”
“American forces are maintaining their defensive posture, and that has not changed,” he said.
Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth similarly told Fox News in a televised interview that “we are postured defensively in the region, to be strong, in pursuit of a peace deal, and we certainly hope that’s what happens here.”
Earlier in the day, Hegseth had announced that he had “directed the deployment of additional capabilities” over the weekend to the Middle East.
“Protecting US forces is our top priority and these deployments are intended to enhance our defensive posture in the region,” he wrote on X.
His post on social media came after the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz was tracked leaving Southeast Asia on Monday, and amid reports that dozens of US military aircraft were heading across the Atlantic.
A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Hegseth had ordered the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group to the Middle East, saying it was “to sustain our defensive posture and safeguard American personnel.”
The movement of one of the world’s largest warships came on day four of the escalating air war between Israel and Iran, with no end in sight despite international calls for de-escalation.
China tells citizens in Israel to leave ‘as soon as possible’
The notice recommended Chinese citizens to leave via the land crossing toward Jordan
Updated 17 June 2025
AFP
BEIJING: China’s embassy in Israel on Tuesday urged its citizens to leave the country “as soon as possible,” after Israel and Iran traded heavy strikes.
“The Chinese mission in Israel reminds Chinese nationals to leave the country as soon as possible via land border crossings, on the precondition that they can guarantee their personal safety,” the embassy said in a statement on WeChat.
“It is recommended to depart in the direction of Jordan,” it added.
After decades of enmity and a prolonged shadow war, Israel launched a surprise aerial campaign last week against targets across Iran, saying they aimed to prevent its arch-foe from acquiring atomic weapons — an ambition Tehran denies.
The sudden flare-up in hostilities has sparked fears of a wider conflict, with US President Donald Trump urging Iran back to the negotiating table after Israel’s attacks derailed ongoing nuclear talks.
Beijing’s embassy said on Tuesday the conflict was “continuing to escalate.”
“Much civilian infrastructure has been damaged, civilian casualties are on the rise, and the security situation is becoming more serious,” it said.
Macron urges end to strikes against civilians, warns against Iran regime change
Macron called on both Israel and Iran to “end” strikes against civilians and warned that aiming to overthrow Tehran’s clerical state would be a “strategic error”
Updated 17 June 2025
AFP
KANANASKIS, Canada: French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday called for strikes against civilians in Iran and Israel to end, as he warned against forcing regime change in Tehran.
“If the United States can achieve a ceasefire, that’s a very good thing,” Macron told reporters at a G7 summit in Canada, just as the White House announced President Donald Trump would leave the event early due the escalating crisis in the Middle East.
Macron called on both Israel and Iran to “end” strikes against civilians and warned that aiming to overthrow Tehran’s clerical state would be a “strategic error.”
“All who have thought that by bombing from the outside you can save a country in spite of itself have always been mistaken,” he said.
Why attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities have placed Israel’s own secret arsenal in the spotlight
Estimates suggest Israel possesses at least 90 nuclear warheads, deliverable by aircraft, land-based missiles,
Israel has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and refuses to place its facilities under international safeguards
Updated 17 June 2025
Jonathan Gornall
LONDON: To this day, Israel maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity in regard to its nuclear capabilities, but it is a fact accepted by experts worldwide that Israel has had the bomb since just before the Six Day War in 1967.
And not just one bomb. Recent estimates by the independent Stockholm International Peace Institute, which has kept tabs on the world’s nuclear weapons and the states that possess them since 1966, suggest Israel has at least 90 nuclear warheads.
SIPRI believes that these warheads are capable of being delivered anywhere within a maximum radius of 4,500 km by its F-15, F-161, and F-35I “Adir” aircraft, its 50 land-based Jericho II and III missiles, and by about 20 Popeye Turbo cruise missiles, launched from submarines.
A woman looks at a wall decorated with national flags during the IAEA's Board of Governors meeting at the agency's headquarters in Vienna, Austria on June 3, 2024. (AFP)
While Iran is a signatory to the international nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Israel is not, which begs the question: while Israel is wreaking havoc in Iran, with the declared aim of crippling a nuclear development program, which the International Atomic Energy Authority says is about energy, not weaponry, why is the international community not questioning Israel’s?
In March, during a meeting of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Jassim Yacoub Al-Hammadi, Qatar’s ambassador to Austria, announced that Qatar was calling for “intensified international efforts” to bring all Israeli nuclear facilities “under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency and for Israel to join the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a non-nuclear state.”
Israel refuses to sign up to the NPT or cooperate with the IAEA. Furthermore, it is a little remembered fact that since 1981 Israel has been in breach of UN Resolution 487.
This was prompted by an attack on a nuclear research facility in Iraq by Israel on June 7, 1981, which was condemned by the UN Security Council as a “clear violation of the Charter of the UN and the norms of international conduct.”
Iraq, as the Security Council pointed out, had been a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty since it came into force in 1970.
Like all states, especially those developing, Iraq had the “inalienable sovereign right … to establish programmes of technological and nuclear development to develop their economy and industry for peaceful purposes in accordance with their present and future needs and consistent with the internationally accepted objectives of preventing nuclear-weapons proliferation.”
Iran won’t permit the blood of its martyrs to go unavenged, nor ignore violation of its airspace, says Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader
The resolution, which remains in force, called on Israel “urgently to place its nuclear facilities under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency.”
Israel has never complied with Resolution 487.
That ambiguity extends to Israel’s only officially stated position on nuclear weapons, which it has repeated since the 1960s, that it “won’t be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East.”
A picture shows the unrecognised Bedouin village of Ras Jrabah, east of Dimona city (background) in southern Israel, on May 29, 2024. (AFP)
Israeli policymakers, SIPRI says, “have previously interpreted ‘introduce nuclear weapons’ as publicly declaring, testing or actually using the nuclear capability, which Israel says it has not yet done.”
In November 2023, about a month after the Hamas-led attack on Israel triggered the war in Gaza, Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, a member of the ultra-nationalist Jewish Power party, said Israel should drop “some kind of atomic bomb” on Gaza, “to kill everyone.”
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly suspended Eliyahu from the cabinet. Eliyahu’s statements “were not based in reality,” Netanyahu said, while Eliyah himself took to X to say that it was “clear to all sensible people” that his statement was “metaphorical.”
Buildings of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters reflect in doors with the agency's logo during the IAEA’s Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria on June 13, 2025. (AFP)
Arsen Ostrovsky, an international human rights lawyer who on X describes himself as a “proud Zionist,” replied: “It is clear to all sensible people that you are a stupid idiot. Even if metaphorical, it was inexcusable. You need to know when to keep your mouth shut.”
Israel has no nuclear electricity generating plants, but it does have what experts agree is a vast nuclear facility.
The Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center — built in the late 1950s and early 1960s, allegedly with French assistance, and renamed for the former Israeli prime minister following his death in 2016 — is a heavily guarded complex in the Negev Desert barely 70 km from the border with Egypt.
Iran has ballistic missiles that are capable of reaching the Negev Nuclear Research Center, approximately 1,500 km from Tehran. Why is Tehran hitting Israeli cities in retaliation to Israel’s attempt to destroy Iran’s nuclear industry, when it could attack Israel’s nuclear facility?
The answer, most likely, comes down to the “Samson Option.”
The Samson Option is a protocol for mutual destruction, the existence of which Israel has never admitted, but has never denied.
As Arab News reported in March, Israel is believed to have twice come close to using its nuclear weaponry.
In 2017, a claim emerged that on the eve of the Arab-Israeli war in 1967 Israel had been on the cusp of unleashing a “demonstration” nuclear blast designed to intimidate its enemies.
The plan was revealed in interviews with retired general Itzhak Yaakov, conducted by Avner Cohen, an Israeli-American historian and leading scholar of Israel’s nuclear history, and published only after Yaakov’s death.
In 2003, Cohen revealed that during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when it again appeared that Israeli forces were about to be overrun, then Prime Minister Golda Meir had authorized the use of nuclear bombs and missiles as a last-stand defense.
This doomsday plan, codenamed Samson, was named for the Israelite strongman who, captured by the Philistines, pulled down the pillars of their temple, destroying himself along with his enemies.
Mordecha Vanunu, an Israeli nuclear technician and peace activist, revealed Israel’s nuclear secrets back in 1986.
Ensnared in the UK by a female Israeli agent, Mordechai was lured to Rome, where he was kidnapped by Mossad agents and taken back to Israel on an Israeli navy ship.
Vanunu, charged with treason, was sentenced to 18 years in prison, much of which he spent in solitary confinement. Released in April 2004, he remains under a series of strictly enforced restrictions, which prevent him from leaving Israel or even speaking to any foreigner.
“We all believe that Israel has a nuclear capability,” Ahron Bregman, a senior teaching fellow in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London’s Institute of Middle East Studies, told Arab News in March.
“The fact that Israel found it necessary to catch Vanunu and put him in jail, and continues to impose strict limitations on him, just proves that it has probably got it.”
The emergence of another Vanunu, especially in the current climate, is highly unlikely.
“Israelis are scared,” said Bregman, who served in the Israeli army for six years in the 1980s.
“Even if you believe it is a good idea to restrict Israel’s behavior and make sure it doesn’t do anything stupid, you are scared to act because you know they will abduct you and put you in jail.
“Israel is very tough on those who reveal its secrets.”
