Middle Orient

For the past several years, US interests have drifted away from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to focus on national security issues in the Pacific and — now — Europe. Unfortunately, the security situation in the Middle East and events like Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, strikes by Iranian-linked groups …

Somalia and Türkiye recently agreed to a ten-year defense deal that will see Ankara helping Mogadishu with security cooperation and building the capacity of its naval forces. While both Somalia and Türkiye have said that their agreement was long in the works and unrelated to the January deal between Ethiopia …

The Houthi movement of Yemen has continued attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea despite U.S.-led “dynamic” strikes on Houthi weaponry being readied for launch. The current U.S. and allied approach assumes that the Houthi arsenal can be degraded to the point where the attacks stop. The lack of clear …

Western news bias in favor of Israel is more and more apparent as media outlets go out of their way to obscure the perpetrators of genocide. Israeli forces killed more than a hundred Palestinians and wounded more than 700 on February 29, 2024 during a distribution of food aid in …

An Iranian military advisor of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) was killed in an Israeli attack in Syria’s Baniyas. The Iranian advisor, Colonel Reza Zare’e, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Syria’s western port city of Baniyas. Citing eyewitnesses, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights reported that three …

An alleged spy for China living in Istanbul evaded detection by Turkish authorities for years, Sadiq Memeteziz’s undercover work taking him to Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Syria and Xinjiang in China’s far-west, Turkish media reports said, citing official documents. Memeteziz, or Shadeke Maimaitiaizazi in Chinese, was one of six …

Hamas seems intent on building up a fighting force inside Lebanon. Early last December news emerged of a large-scale recruitment drive by Hamas in and around the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Dubbed “The Al-Aqsa Flood” – in line with the name given to the October 7 massacre – the …

Bashar al-Assad issued an administrative order to retire about 7,000 volunteers, according to Shaam Network. The Ministry of Defense in the Assad regime’s government announced on Tuesday, January 2nd, the retirement of approximately seven thousand volunteers from Assad’s militias. Additionally, the Ministries of Defense and Interior unveiled the 2024 promotion …

Azadi Derik was responsible for the procurement and deployment of rockets within the YPG, according to al-Souria Net Turkish media have reported that the Turkish intelligence service have neutralized a senior commander of the Women’s Protection Units (YPG), an affiliate of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), in Qamishli, northeastern Syria. …

Farid al-Qasim, who had previously faced allegations of misconduct, is relieved of his duties with Salem Turki al-Antari assuming command, according to pro-government Athr Press The US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) operating in the al-Tanf region of southern Syria has announced a significant change in its leadership, with Farid al-Qasim …