Eurasia

The Syrian government and Russian media sites are promoting a new agreement between Russia and the Syrian Defense Forces that guarantees the regime’s takeover of the Ain Issa area in northern Raqqa. Riyadh al-Khalaf, chairman of the Tell Abyad Military Council affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), denied in …

Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and other groups held the exercise to prepare for a future conflict with Israel. Palestinian armed groups conducted what was described as an unprecedented joint military drill in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

In the past few weeks, Ankara has made several overtures toward rapprochement with Israel, yet Jerusalem seems to be waiting for something solid. Multiple moves by Turkey in recent weeks indicate that relations between Jerusalem and Ankara may change, or that Turkey would like them to.

SDF commander Mazlum Kobane told Al-Monitor last month he hopes the Biden administration will double the US troop presence in northeast Syria. Northeast Syria’s Kurdish-led administration is calling on US President-elect Joe Biden to formally recognize its autonomous status within Syria.

Israel reportedly dispatched a submarine to the Suez Canal and the Red Sea in what has been taken as a clear warning to Iran not to escalate tensions at this sensitive time of transition.

The Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood risks being dissolved after court decision and as its popular base erodes. The Muslim Brotherhood group in Jordan suffered a new setback, as it failed to hold a seat in any of the fifteen parliamentary committees. Thus, and for all practical purposes, the group finds itself …

The son of a former member of parliament is susepcted to be the head of an ISIS cell. Kuwait was put on high security alert starting Thursday evening after indications of an Islamic State (ISIS) plot over the end-of-year holidays.

An administrative Moroccan delegation arrived in Israel to reopen the liaison office following normalization of ties between the two countries.

The power-sharing agreement comes as Yemen’s Houthi rebels have already largely seized control of the country’s north Yemen’s President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi ordered the country’s new unity government to relocate to Aden after its members were sworn in during a ceremony in Saudi Arabia’s capital yesterday.

The Shiite party’s leader also said Hezbollah has doubled its missile supplies. Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed in an interview yesterday that the Lebanese Shiite party’s militant wing had doubled its supply of precision-guided missiles and can strike anywhere in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.