Middle Orient

Iranian-backed Iraqi militias appear divided on whether to resume attacks targeting US forces. Emirati state media reported that Iranian-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah (KH) is advocating for the resumption of attacks but that some militia leaders disagree with KH, citing unidentified Iraqi political and security sources.[i] Emirati state media furthermore …

By backing, arming and training Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, Iran launched a proxy war against Israel, leveraging the conflict in part to divert attention from its nuclear ambitions. The calculated move not only serves Iran’s immediate interests in destabilizing its adversaries – the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, …

Latest Developments Russia is ready to expand military and technical cooperation with Iran, the Russian state-owned media outlet RIA Novosti reported on April 26. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his Iranian counterpart Gharaei Ashtiani discussed enhanced security ties during a meeting in Kazakhstan of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a …

Last week, European leaders agreed for the first time to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. By then, more than 34,000 Palestinians – two-thirds of them women and children – had been killed in Israel’s war, launched after Hamas’ deadly 7 October attack. Spain, Ireland, Belgium, and France constitute the …

In-depth: The failure to address past violations in the ‘war on terror’ has enabled UK and US-backed torture practices to re-emerge, this time in Syria. The US and UK’s complicity in torture and detention practices has once again come under the spotlight amid revelations of the systematic abuses and preventable …

The Limits of Cooperation Between Israel and the Arab States When Iran directed over 300 missiles and drones at Israel on April 13, Jordan helped fend off the attack. Initial media reports suggested that several other Arab states assisted in Israel’s defense, efforts they later denied. Nonetheless, a chorus of …

“To this day I feel humiliation for what was done to me… The time I spent in Abu Ghraib — it ended my life. I’m only half a human now.” That’s what Abu Ghraib survivor Talib al-Majli had to say about the 16 months he spent at that notorious prison …

Throughout history, fringe religious Zionist parties have had limited success in achieving the kind of electoral victories that would allow them an actual share in the country’s political decision-making. The impressive number of 17 seats won by Israel’s extremist religious party, Shas, in the 1999 elections, was a watershed moment …

Hamas and Palestinian factions are targeting and threatening to target the humanitarian pier in the central Gaza Strip that is meant to distribute aid to the northern Strip. Israeli media report that unspecified Palestinian fighters mortared construction facilities for the US-built pier in the central Gaza Strip on April 25.[1] …

The deputy transport minister of Tajikistan said her country is interested in investing at Iran’s Chabahar Port in logistics affairs. In a meeting with Iran’s Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development Ali Akbar Safaei, Shayesta Moradzadeh emphasized the interest of her country in making investments at the port in …