Middle Orient

High stakes: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani confronted KH on 9 August, breaking a longstanding pattern of political caution. Image: Tasnim News Agency / Wikimedia Commons Fears over leadership decapitation, calls for restraint from the Iraqi government, and discouragement from Iran were behind the militias’ decision not to get …

The post-2003 security landscape in Iraq has seen the proliferation of dozens of militias identifying with Shiite Islam. Many of these actors are integrated into the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) – a paramilitary group established in 2014 to counter the Islamic State and later incorporated into the Iraqi state forces …

In late October, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced the unilateral withdrawal of its fighters from Turkey to northern Iraq. The announcement came on the heels of PKK fighters symbolically burning weapons in northern Iraq in July. In response, Turkey praised the move and is reportedly preparing legislation to allow …

On New Year’s Eve last December, Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, barely a few weeks after toppling the regime of Bashar Al-Assad, gathered the most senior commanders of the Syrian opposition’s fragmented and often fractious factions to declare their official victory over the Baathist regime. During his proclamation, he warned that …

Undermining the group in Lebanon requires targeting its networks abroad. After being battered by Israel, Hezbollah is working to replenish its badly damaged capabilities. Morgan Ortagus, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, was in Beirut last month to press Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to disarm the Iran-backed group—but …

Islamic State threats in the border region necessitate shared efforts between Baghdad and Syria’s new leadership as coalition forces withdraw, but Iraq’s November 11 election and internal divisions over engaging with Damascus are blocking progress. Discussions are now taking place about the need to strengthen Iraq-Syria security cooperation after the …

Tainted metal scrap sourced from conflict zones can ultimately become finished steel used by some of Europe’s top firms. The Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism Association (SIRAJ) and El País co-published a set of edited versions of this investigation. Ahmad* is 11 and has lost his hacksaw – or …

Recent clashes between government forces and French-speaking fighters in northern Syria have rekindled concerns about military and social integration Damascus, Syria – A group of Uyghur men laughed uproariously over a Syrian friend’s seemingly vain requests for a waiter to take better photos of them together, as they shared food …

Of Iraq’s 46 million people, just over 12 million cast ballots, producing a nationwide turnout of 56.11%, one of the highest in recent years. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s Reconstruction and Development Coalition has established a substantial lead across eight provinces in Iraq’s parliamentary elections held on 11 November, according …

Latest Developments Hezbollah in Breach of Ceasefire, IDF Asserts: The IDF accused the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah of attempting to rebuild its armed capabilities south of the Litani River, in violation of November 2024’s ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel. Israeli military spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said on November 11 that …