Middle Orient

Toplines Some Syrian General Security Service (GSS) units are improving their counter-insurgency approach in rural minority areas by relying on relationships with locals. The GSS arrested a large Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)-affiliated Assadist cell in Sheikh Bader, Tartous Province, on November 12.[1] Independent Syria researcher Gregory Waters reported on …

Palestinian terrorists in Gaza have violated phase one of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas on at least eight occasions between November 13 and November 21, according to reports from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Since the ceasefire’s implementation on October 10, Palestinian groups have violated the deal 32 …

Iranian-backed political parties are preparing to form the next Iraqi federal government after winning over a third of the seats in the recent parliamentary elections. These parties may exclude or at least weaken Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al Sudani, despite his coalition winning the plurality of seats. Sudani could try …

Russia stepped foot in southern Syria for the first time since the fall of Bashar al-Assad almost a year ago. On November 17, a Russian military delegation traveled to the southern region, where they conducted “reconnaissance operations” in Quneitra Province, which borders the Golan Heights. The Russians were accompanied by …

Iraq’s elections make ponderous a status quo Washington and Tehran seek to preserve; manoeuvring politicians make work for external powers contesting the fate of Iraq’s Iran-backed militia groups. Iraq’s November national elections positioned incumbent Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani’s Reconstruction and Development Coalition (RDC) as the leading party in federal …

Iraq’s parliamentary election on 11 November went smoothly from a procedural perspective but left a fragmented political landscape in its wake. While incumbent Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani topped the poll on the back of a populist campaign of public sector spending, no one party is close to securing a …

The United Nations Security Council on Monday approved a US-drafted resolution endorsing President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for the devastated Gaza Strip. Authorising an International Stabilisation Force (ISF), a transitional administration, or ‘Board of Peace’, which would oversee reconstruction, while also referencing a “pathway” to Palestinian statehood, the resolution provides …

IDF forces attacked Hezbollah facilities in south Lebanon and in the Beqa’a Valley andeliminated operatives of the organization as part of ongoing activity against Hezbollah’spresence in south Lebanon, in violation of the ceasefire understandings and because of theorganization’s renewed attempts to regain its strength and rebuild its arsenal. A rocketlaunching …

Syria needs an economic reconstruction program. Desperately. Yet nearly a year after the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad, there is still no talk of putting together a comprehensive economic reconstruction plan, whether in Damascus or among the obvious international stakeholders. Without clarity and wide-based consultation on the country’s new economic …

Michael Young: You’ve just written a very interesting essay for Foreign Affairs in which you examine the kind of changes that may be coming to Iran once the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, passes away. Before getting into the piece itself, what immediately hits the reader is that your conclusions …