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Turkey Responds to Russian Escalation in Idleb

On Tuesday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to Ankara in light of the recent Russian bombing of Idleb. A source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that the Russian ambassador to Turkey, Alexei Yerkhov, had been summoned to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, due to the …

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How is Moscow-Washington Tension Affecting Syria?

In an unusual precedent in the history of Russian-American relations, US President Joe Biden, in a television interview, described his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as a “murderer.” This escalation against Putin has left many comfortable, especially since President Biden did say the truth, for Putin is a murderer indeed. Biden’s …

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Iran Faces Challenges as it Tries to Invest in Syria

French newspaper Le Monde wrote about Iran falling short in Syria, in two ways: one is economic, centered around it making up for the billions of dollars it spent in Syria over a decade for the benefit of the Syrian regime; and the other is related to its failure to …

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Moscow Asks Turkey to Open Border Crossings

Russia has submitted a proposal to Turkey, which includes opening three crossings in Idleb and Aleppo between regime-controlled and opposition-held areas, according to what was announced by the Deputy Director of the Russian Reconciliation Center in Hmeimim, affiliated with the Russian Defense Ministry, Alexander Karpov. According to a statement issued …

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Bundeswehr remains under fire for far-right extremism

An interim report has been completed, documenting dozens of far-right incidents in the elite commando of Germany’s defense forces, the KSK, going back to 2017. DW takes a closer look at the KSK’s tainted record. The KSK elite force was created in response to an incident that many in Germany …

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5 ISIS Enclaves Remain in Central, Eastern Syria

To this day, ISIS controls five isolated pockets in Syria, the largest of which is located near the Ithria village in Hama province. The other four enclaves are situated south of Raqqa province, in Palmyra’s countryside, near borders with Iraq and south of the eastern city of Deir Ezzor. Since …

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ISIS in Sinai leader killed in clash with Egyptian forces – report

Al-Hamadin, referred to as the “most dangerous and oldest of the takfiri elements in the Sinai,” was responsible for the murder of hundreds of civilians and Egyptian soldiers. Leader of the ISIS terrorist organization in the Sinai Peninsula, Salim Salma Said Mahmoud al-Hamadin, was killed during clashes with Bedouin and …

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Al-Qaida Is Diminished, but Don’t Write Its Obituary Just Yet

Rumors began swirling last fall that al-Qaida chieftain Ayman al-Zawahiri had died of natural causes. With no confirmation, counterterrorism analysts and long-time al-Qaida watchers weighed in with various assessments of what it would mean for the terrorist organization if it had indeed lost its leader. Just last week, al-Qaida’s official …

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Making Sense of Iran and al-Qaeda’s Relationship

The nature of the relationship between al-Qaeda and Iran is one of the most contentious debates in the counterterrorism community, dividing analysts, policymakers and government officials. The stakes of establishing or disproving the relationship are considerable—meaningful state support is immensely useful to terrorist organizations, especially one being hunted by the …

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The Geopolitical Implications of Turkey’s Relationship with Central Asia

In a sign that Ankara is seeking to make renewed inroads in Central Asia, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu visited three of the five states in the region in early March—Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Turkey has made concerted efforts to leverage historic, cultural, …

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