Middle Orient

Iran and Iraq have reached an agreement to disarm members of Iranian Kurdish dissident groups based in northern Iraq and relocate their members from their current bases, officials from the two countries said Monday. Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said in a news briefing Monday that the …

BEIRUT (AP) — Arab tribesmen clashed with U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in several areas of eastern Syria on Tuesday, leaving at least 10 people dead and others wounded, opposition activists and pro-government media said. The clashes are among the worst in recent years in the region along the border with Iraq …

Revival of the vital grain deal will top the agenda of the Turkish and Russian presidents in Sochi, but experts believe Moscow’s quick return to the agreement is unlikely. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will travel to Sochi next week for a highly anticipated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, …

A devastating attack by jihadists has left a trail of destruction and loss in northwestern Syria’s Idlib province. On Saturday, militants belonging to the Ansar al-Tawhid group and the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) carried out a coordinated assault that claimed the lives of at least 11 soldiers. According to reports …

Clashes broke out Monday between two U.S.-backed groups in eastern Syria, leaving three gunmen dead and raising tensions in the region where hundreds of American troops are deployed, opposition activists said. The clashes raise concerns of more divisions between U.S.-backed Kurdish and Arab fighters in eastern Syria that borders Iraq …

A September deadline set to disarm the groups will “not be extended in any way.” Iran warned Monday that it would not extend a September deadline for Iraq to disarm and evacuate Iranian Kurdish opposition groups based in camps within Iraqi territory, calling their presence a “dark stain” on otherwise …

Economists believe BRICS membership will give Egypt a chance to ease pressure on the dollar, but is not a quick remedy for the country’s economic woes Egypt will become a full member of the BRICS club of emerging economies as of January 2024. The group had approved Cairo’s request to …

The mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is due to expire at the end of August. The Security Council is expected to debate the situation on the Lebanese-Israeli border shortly, and to renew UNIFIL’s mandate. As for the situation on the border, it is best described as …

Saudi border guards have killed at least hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers who tried to cross the Yemen-Saudi border between March 2022 and June 2023, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report. If committed as part of a Saudi government policy to murder migrants, these killings, which …

The Biden administration has characterized securing the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel as a national security matter and is actively working to achieve its goal. US domestic politics is driving the Biden policy that sees Saudi-Israel normalization as a “foreign policy win” for an aging and weak …