Middle Orient

Keir Starmer’s government held a private meeting with Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons company, Declassified has found. The meeting occurred in December 2024 and was attended by three representatives from Elbit Systems and three officials from Yvette Cooper’s Home Office. It took place months after Israeli forces used an Elbit …

Latest Developments Syrian Troops Allegedly Kidnapped: Clashes erupted across the Syria-Lebanon border on March 16 after the Syrian transitional government accused Iran-backed Hezbollah of kidnapping and killing three of its soldiers in Lebanon. Hezbollah denied any involvement in the incident. Transitional Government Shells Lebanon: In response to the alleged kidnappings, …

The United States spent billions over years arming and training militants in Syria, many linked to Al-Qaeda and ISIS. Current US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan admitted back in 2012 that “AQ [Al-Qaeda] is on our side in Syria”. In December 2024, armed extremists overthrew the Syrian government and seized …

After years of struggle on various fronts to overthrow Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the leaders of opposition factions have arrived at the People’s Palace in Damascus in a pivotal event described as “historic.” The meeting saw participants move past old disputes and agree to dissolve all factions and merge them under …

Syria’s transitional government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have begun implementing a landmark agreement aimed at reintegrating the autonomous administration’s civil and military institutions into the framework of the Syrian state. The deal, signed on March 10 by President Ahmad Al-Sharaa and SDF Commander General Mazloum Abdi, marks …

The campaign has found an unlikely ally in Mouaz Moustafa, the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, who was previously a vocal proponent of sanctions against the Assad regime due to its extensive human rights violations, Shaam news writes. A group of Syrian Jews, some of whom recently …

Syria continues to endure near-daily aerial assaults from both Israel and Turkey, escalating the suffering of civilians and raising urgent questions about how the country’s new transitional government, led by President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, plans to confront persistent violations of its sovereignty. In the early hours of Monday, a Turkish airstrike …

In the early days of March, in what should have been a tranquil seaside enclave on Syria’s western coast, a tragedy of unspeakable horror unfolded. Over six harrowing days beginning Thursday, March 6, heavily populated Alawite-majority neighbourhoods in the coastal region were subjected to a systematic assault, bearing the unmistakable …

Analysis: Turkey and Israel are the two main players to fill power vacuums in post-Assad Syria, and friction between Ankara and Tel Aviv is intensifying. For many years, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has used powerful rhetoric to condemn Israel. As the then-prime minister of Turkey, Erdogan captured much international …

In-depth: As the path to a new Syria evolves, the Druze find themselves navigating different pressures amid local and regional power struggles. More than a week after a member of the interim government’s security forces was killed during clashes with Druze armed factions in Jaramana, tensions remain high. The incident …