Middle Orient

A Détente Option for Iran

America Needs a Simpler Policy—but Not Rapprochement On April 1, Israeli warplanes attacked a building in Damascus that is part of the Iranian embassy there, killing seven senior figures in the Iranian military. Tehran has yet to respond. But when it does, the scale and nature of its actions will …

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Iran Is Winning the War

Right now things look good for Israel. But the Islamic Republic is playing the long game. And its advantages, alas, are many. Is there an ending to the Gaza war and all its complementary confrontations in which Iran and its proxies lose and Israel and the United States win? On …

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ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency in March 2024

ISIS carried out at least 69 confirmed attacks in March in the Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Raqqa, and Deir Ez Zor governorates. These attacks killed at least 84 pro-Assad regime soldiers and 44 civilians and wounded at least 51 more soldiers and civilians. There were also 19 high quality* attacks during …

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Iran’s Grand Plan: Bring Down The Jordanian Regime, Attack Israel From The East, And Thwart The Western-Sunni Normalization Project – And This Could Begin This Friday, Iran’s Qods Day

Introduction In recent days, the grand Iranian plan is emerging – the plan with which the Islamic revolutionary regime is continuing despite the killing, in Israeli air strikes, the senior command of its IRGC Qods Force in Syria and Lebanon. The upcoming stage of this plan involves bringing down the …

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Tehran vows response after strike blamed on Israel destroyed Iran’s Consulate in Syria and killed 12

Iran on Tuesday vowed to respond to an airstrike widely attributed to Israel that destroyed Iran’s Consulate in the Syrian capital of Damascus the previous day and killed 12 people, including two Iranian generals and a member of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group. Four Syrian citizens were also killed in …

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Hezbollah militants among dozens killed in Israeli strikes on Syria’s Aleppo

Israeli airstrikes hit the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Friday morning, killing dozens of people including five members of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. At about 1.45am local time (10.45pm GMT on Thursday), airstrikes targeted several areas in Aleppo’s countryside, in which a number of civilians and military personnel …

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Pro-Iran Telegram Outlets Eulogize IRGC Commander Killed In Damascus Airstrike; Sunni Jihadi Outlets Celebrate His Death

On April 1, 2024, a Telegram channel affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reported that Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, also known as Abu Mahdi, was killed in an airstrike that targeted a building adjacent to the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Syria.[1] The channel accused Israel of carrying …

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Hizbullah Arresting Foreign Nationals In Beirut, Tightening Its Control In The Area

In late February 2024, three unusual incidents occurred in the Dahiya, the Hizbullah stronghold in southern Beirut, in which the organization detained and interrogated foreign nationals who had entered that area. All the people detained were foreigners who were in the country with the official approval and consent of the …

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Threatens to Punish Israel After Syria Airstrike

Latest Developments Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on April 2 threatened to retaliate against Israel for killing Iranian military leaders in an airstrike in Damascus. In a statement on his website, Khamenei claimed that “Israel will be punished” for the April 1 attack, which eliminated Mohammad Reza Zahedi and …

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Iraqi Militia Threatens to Arm Jordanians for Attacks Against Israel

Latest Developments An Iraq-based Iranian proxy militia on April 1 threatened to retaliate against Israel for its airstrikes in Damascus and for the war in Gaza by arming fighters in Jordan. Abu al-Askari, spokesperson of Kata’ib Hezbollah — a U.S.-designated terrorist organization also known as the Hezbollah Brigades — blamed …

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