The notorious Al Hol camp in north-east Syria finally closed its doors this week. Thousands of alleged ISIS members and their families had been held there for years in inhumane conditions and without charge or trial. Human rights groups had long advocated for the camp to be closed but the events that unfolded before it was emptied were described as chaotic.

The disorganised handover of the camp from the Syrian Democratic Forces to government authorities created a power vacuum that allowed for thousands of residents to escape.

Those remaining were moved to a new camp in Aleppo with better conditions. Some of them are children who have never known a life outside Al Hol. The hope is they will eventually be reintegrated into society.

But there is a fear that those with hardline ideologies could be recruited by ISIS, which just declared war against President Ahmad Al Shara and his government.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher asks, 'what happens next after the closure of Al Hol and can an ISIS resurgence in Syria be contained?' We hear from The National’s correspondent Nada Maucourant Atallah and Alexander McKeever, an independent researcher based in Damascus.

The US and Iran are facing off in a battle for concessions once more, as they resume nuclear talks against the backdrop of military threats.

Officials said good progress was made at the latest round of negotiations in Geneva on Tuesday but added that a lot of work lies ahead.

Only a day later, the White House warned Tehran it would be “wise” to make a deal. The US has boosted its military deployment in the Middle East, signalling its readiness to attack at a moment's notice.

Iran’s nuclear programme was set back by US strikes on its atomic infrastructure last year. Tehran is determined to preserve its enrichment capability, while Washington wants to see it dismantled.

But there are signs that talks and heightened tension are no longer about the nuclear programme alone, and that President Donald Trump may be pursuing more seismic changes, including regime change in Iran.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher speaks to Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran programme at the Middle East Institute, and asks him how the latest US-Iran showdown could play out.

Israel’s recent change of land-buying policies in the occupied West Bank has been condemned by the international community and the UN.

The measures have been designed to make it easier for settlers to acquire Palestinian land in areas that until now had been under the Palestinian Authority’s administration.

Critics have described the move as de facto annexation of the territory that would crush any prospect of Palestinian statehood.

In a joint statement, Arab and Islamic countries condemned the measures, calling them illegal actions. But this is not the first time. Last July, the same countries rebuked an annexation motion by the Knesset.

An Israeli takeover of the occupied West Bank has long been considered a red line in the region and beyond, as it would deal a final blow to the two-state solution. And yet, since the war in Gaza, Israel has accelerated its land-grab practices there, pushing forward with settlement expansion.

In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher looks at the chain of events that brought the West Bank to this tipping point and asks: is there enough international will and pressure to push back against Israel’s latest decision?