Middle Orient

As opaque negotiations on SDF integration grind on, the city of Qamishli lives with parallel authorities, shrinking subsidies and growing uncertainty over who will govern nextHow is the SDF integration process going? On the streets of Qamishli many people say they just don’t know. Government forces, at least, are nowhere …

The EU reconfigures its relationship to Syrian civil society The European Union’s new Roadmap for Civil Society Engagement marks a break in how Brussels approaches Syrian civil society: away from viewing it as a social movement and political force shaping state formation; and towards framing it as a local stabilisation …

Lorsque la marine américaine, en coordination avec le Qatar et Oman, a tenté de faire passer un convoi de quatre navires dans le détroit d’Ormuz, via les eaux omanaises, mardi soir — plutôt que de passer par la route officiellement approuvée par l’Iran — Trump a peut-être imaginé (ou on …

As opaque negotiations on SDF integration grind on, the city of Qamishli lives with parallel authorities, shrinking subsidies and growing uncertainty over who will govern nextHow is the SDF integration process going? On the streets of Qamishli many people say they just don’t know. Government forces, at least, are nowhere …

It has been around a year since Syrian government forces and allied tribal militiamen entered the primarily Druze province of al-Suwayda’ in southern Syria, ostensibly serving as a ‘mediation’ force but in fact seeking to impose government security control and dismantle the Druze armed groups in the province that were …

How the U.S.-Iran showdown has shattered the myth of an “unsinkable” defense umbrella—and why the Gulf monarchies are quietly shopping for a new guarantor. The “Oil-for-Protection” Deal That BackfiredFor generations, the strategic bargain between Washington and the Persian Gulf monarchies was strikingly straightforward: The United States guarantees the territorial integrity …

The Red Sea is becoming the “lesser evil” for shipowners, analysts said, as uncertainty in the Strait of Hormuz outweighs the threat posed by Yemen’s Houthi militants. The Iranian-backed rebels began attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea and its southern gateway at Bab el-Mandeb in late 2023, prompting most …

Three people including child hurt by falling debris in Kuwait; Qatar condemns ‘dangerous escalation’ after being hit for first time since April; Iranian soldier killed in US attacks Iran fired missiles and drones at Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar early Sunday in response to widespread American strikes, as a flare-up …

Les forces militaires iraniennes ont récemment mené des frappes aériennes massives contre les bases militaires de milices kurdes iraniennes, situées au Kurdistan irakien (nord – ouest). Ces attaques, sans précédent, témoignent de la crainte de Téhéran de voir ces milices devenir plus offensives à la faveur de l’instabilité générée par …

Russia is accelerating efforts to entrench its economic presence in Syria through a new logistics project at the Port of Tartous, signalling a strategic shift from military dominance to commercial leverage. The move comes as Moscow and Damascus engage in sensitive negotiations over the future of Russia’s military installations in …