The tense atmosphere in Syria illustrates how extremists are popular from Idlib to Jarabulus to Raqqa and Deir Ezzor. This is a swath of Syria where ISIS was once in control or had influence.

The leader of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah on Friday described French cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad as an aggression and likened Paris sticking by them to “declaring a sort of war.” In a televised speech, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said by being stubborn, French authorities had worsened a standoff over the caricatures, …

A senior commander of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the ruling Fatah faction, was killed on Saturday in the Balata refugee camp, near Nablus. Palestinian sources said that the man, Hatem Abu Rizek, 35, was affiliated with deposed Fatah operative Mohammed Dahlan, a powerful archrival of Palestinian Authority …

The controversy in France surrounding the publication of several cartoons lampooning the Prophet Muhammad continues to escalate. There is growing concern about reciprocal radicalization, as tit-for-tat violence further amplifies discord throughout the country.

One year ago today, U.S. Special Operations Forces hunted down ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who died after detonating a suicide vest. Core ISIS still has access to hundreds of millions of dollars and maintains connections to middlemen and front companies across the Middle East.

It was a bit quiet for a few months. But now military tensions in the controversial Syrian province of Idlib are on the rise again. The Russian Air Force killed about 80 fighters loyal to Turkey in an attack this week.The attack on a training camp for the Failak al …

The US-led Global Coalition against ISIS increased its military points and forces deployed east of the Euphrates for the third consecutive day, including in al-Hasakeh and the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor. The third military convoy of the Global Coalition arrived from the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, through the Semalka border …

The Turkish government is silent on yesterday’s attack “on Syrian rebels”, who are being trained by the Turkish military, commented on October 27 the Turkish journalist Ragyb Soylu. Soylu is an interesting resource as he has good access to information from the Turkish government.

The United States is opening an embassy in the Maldives to strengthen economic and security cooperation five decades after the two nations established diplomatic ties. The move reflects “the continued growth of the U.S.-Maldives relationship and underscoring the United States’ unshakeable commitment to Maldives and the Indo-Pacific region,” said U.S. …

President Donald Trump’s national-security adviser says the world is realigning geopolitically between democratic and authoritarian states as more countries realize the threat posed by China.