Eurasia

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 …

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, …

Reconciliation between Qatar and four boycotting Arab countries has not yet been reflected in the Yemeni file. Yemeni political sources suggested that a mortar attack on the Arab coalition’s camp in Al-Alam area in Shabwa was part of a broader scheme aimed at stopping the Riyadh Agreement from being implemented …

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 …

The United States on Thursday blacklisted Chinese oil giant CNOOC and slapped visa restrictions on officials of the Chinese navy, ruling party and state-owned enterprises over land reclamation and “coercion” of Southeast Asian claimants in the disputed South China Sea.

Today, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) in the Department of Commerce (Commerce) imposed new controls on any U.S. technologies and specific activities of U.S. persons who may be supporting foreign military-intelligence end uses and end users in China, Cuba, Russia, and Venezuela, as well as in terrorist-supporting countries. …

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.