Divisions and bickering in Fatah were one of the reasons why the ruling faction lost the parliamentary election to Hamas in 2006. Deposed Fatah operative Mohammed Dahlan will not be allowed to run in the upcoming Palestinian presidential election, because he is a convicted criminal, two senior Palestinian officials said on Saturday.

James Jeffrey sees Israel’s campaign against Iran as part of a multi-pillar US strategy in the region that worked between 2018 and 2020. In a recent article in Foreign Affairs, the former American envoy on Syrian policy notes that “US-supported Israeli strikes on Iranian targets in the country further limited the [Syrian] regime’s military options.” […]

Footage from Iran shows the missiles and precision strikes. A massive Iranian missile drill showcasing long range missiles, drones and other weapons is taking place this weekend and serves as a message to Gulf countries, the US and Israel.

Turkish forces plan to establish an observation post 200 meters from the Damascus-Aleppo international road on the northwestern outskirts of Saraqeb city, reliable sources said Friday, a few days after Iranian forces and their proxy militias redeployed in areas that were hit by a series of airstrikes in eastern Syria this week.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Turkish Ambassador Mehmet Samsar discussed Friday the situation in Syria and Libya, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Aleppo Province – Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: SOHR sources have reported clashes, on Friday evening, between Turkish-backed factions and “Manbij Military Council Forces” on the frontlines of Al-Bughaz in the western countryside of Manbij, north-east of Aleppo. the clashes coincided with exchange of bombardment between the tow parties, but no casualties have been reported.

Syrian Observatory activists have documented a spike in the number of Russian airstrikes on the Syrian desert in the past 24 hours, as the Russian fighter jets executed 65 airstrikes targeting ISIS positions in Alepp-Hama-Al-Raqqah triangle and other positions in the desert, amid reports of casualties.

In a sign of the changing political environment in the Middle East, the United States military will move Israel from the U.S. European Command’s area of responsibility to that of the U.S. Central Command, DOD officials announced today.

Troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan have dropped, acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller announced today. There are now 2,500 U.S. service members in Iraq and 2,500 in Afghanistan. It is the lowest number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan since operations started there in 2001.

Israel needs to prepare for this new reality where its ability to combat Iranian forces and proxy groups is concerned. Speculation about the extent to which the incoming American administration will appease Iran has been rampant. But US President-elect Joe Biden’s picks for relevant top positions don’t seem to leave much room for conjecture.

Café Milano, the upscale Italian restaurant in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, was the scene of an important dinner on Monday night: Mossad chief Yossi Cohen sat down to eat with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and the two were spotted by journalists.

The Yemeni interior minister said the Houthi militias, helped by Iranian and Lebanese experts, were behind the strikes that targeted Aden airport on December 30. The results of investigations by the Yemeni government about the Aden airport attack underline the danger posed by missiles Iran has supplied to the Houthis, which have seriously threatened energy […]

The Lebanese are worried that their country will meet the fate endured by Iraq, Syria and Yemen, where the Iranians and their militia proxies are playing a major role in the civil wars currently plaguing these countries. The Lebanese are demanding an end to Iranian occupation of their country; they are clearly hoping that the […]

Palestinian International Terrorism Support Prevention Act passed House unanimously in 2019 but stalled in Senate Bipartisan American legislation directing the US president to sanction international individuals and agencies tied to the Gaza-based Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups was re-introduced in the House on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan arrived in Moscow on Thursday to discuss bilateral relations with his Russian counterpart, according to the Kingdom’s Foreign Ministry.

The Afghan Fatemiyoun also denied members were hit, but said Syrian army personnel were killed. A deputy commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) denied that any deaths had resulted from a string of airstrikes believed to have been carried out by Israel in Syria earlier this week.

Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi rejected the invitation for meeting French, German, Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers in Cairo, citing the nationwide lockdown in Israel as an excuse.

The military exercise in Iran’s central desert comes as the Trump administration makes a final push to punish Tehran. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Friday fired a “barrage” of surface-to-surface ballistic missiles and launched new bomb-carrying drones in a military drill held in the country’s central desert of Iran, state media reported.

One expert noted that the Russia and Syrian regime attempts to push the SDF to withdraw from the Ain al-Issa area and shelling by Turkish-backed rebels is “giving ISIS cells greater ability to conduct attacks deep behind the SDF lines.”

Drug trafficking is a major source of revenue for the PKK terrorist group to carry out its activities in Iraq, the head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front Ershad Salihi said Monday. According to Iraqi sources, the PKK has accelerated illegal drug trafficking activities across the country to fund its terrorist network.

A former spokesman for Al-Qaeda who worked closely with the group’s late leader Osama bin Laden is now living freely in London after being released early from a US jail due to the high COVID-19 risk posed by his weight and asthma, Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper reported on Monday.

For weeks, ISIS has managed to escalate its attacks against Syrian regime forces and their allies in the Syrian Badia, largely suggesting that the terror group has succeeded in reorganizing its ranks in the vast desert region.

Daesh terrorists killed at least eight regime loyalists in eastern Syria on Monday, the latest in a series of deadly extremist attacks, a Britain-based war monitor reported.

A member of the al-Bakir Tribe has been gunned down in Deir ez-Zor, in the latest of a number of killings that has targeted tribal figures writes SANA. One of the dignitaries of al-Bakir Tribe was martyred after he was shot in the al-Ezbeh area in Deir ez-Zor’s northern countryside, which is under the control […]

The Israeli radar systems will be interoperable with NATO defense mechanisms. Israel will deliver 17 radar systems produced by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), to the Slovak Ministry of Defense in an agreement that amounts to approximately €150 million, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday.The ministry said in a statement that the Slovak government approved the […]

On Wednesday, Abu Fadak al-Mohammadawi was listed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. Abu Fadak has a habit of avoiding the cameras. But he was thrust into the limelight after the US used a drone to kill Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in January last year.

Tehran is very openly bragging about its UAV capabilities and regularly lists its arsenal. Iran has sent drones to Yemen, enabling the creation of a base for so-called “suicide drones” or what are known as loitering munitions, according to Newsweek. The report claims that “Shahed-136” drones are now based in Al-Jawf. These are supposedly “advanced […]

In a precedent, a car bomb on Thursday targeted the Russian military base in the village of Tal al-Samen, in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)-controlled territory in eastern Raqqa province. More notable, however, was claiming responsibility for the operation by Hurras al-Din (Guardians of Religion) organization that is based in Idlib province in northwest Syria.

Israeli night raids targeting arms depots and military positions in eastern Syria killed at least five soldiers and 11 allied fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday. The Israeli air force carried out more than 18 strikes against multiple targets in an area stretching from the eastern town of Deir Ezzor to the […]

Hurras al-Din, affiliated with al-Qaeda in Syria, claimed responsibility for an attack against a Russian base in northern Raqqa and pledged to expand operations outside its areas of deployment in Idlib.

With their husbands having been dealt a blowing defeat by the US-led International Coalition and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), dozens of ISIS wives now face the challenges of living in Syrian refugee camps.

At least five Syrian soldiers and 11 allied fighters were killed in Israeli air raids in eastern Syria, according to a Britain-based war monitor writes Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. Israeli night raids targeting arms depots and military positions in eastern Syria killed at least five soldiers and 11 allied fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said […]

Washington – The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action today against two organizations, along with their leaders and subsidiaries, controlled by the Supreme Leader of Iran, the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO), and Astan Quds Razavi (AQR). While purportedly charitable organizations (bonyads), EIKO and AQR control large […]

The Iranian Navy is set to receive the country’s largest-ever military vessel, an indigenously-manufactured helicopter carrier outfitted to take on momentous logistical responsibilities in support of the defense force’s maritime missions.

Barbara Leaf is set to join other Obama-era officials with established Middle East policy credentials. Barbara Leaf, the former US ambassador to the United Arab Emirates during the Barack Obama administration, is expected to be named to President-elect Joe Biden’s National Security Council, Vox reported.