Middle Orient

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 …

Mohammad Hossein Velayati, an Iranian photojournalist working for the Tasnim News Agency, was arrested by the Taliban in Kabul. Iran was determined “to pursue securing the release of a photojournalist in Afghanistan,” Iranian President’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan Affairs Hassan Kazemi Qomi said earlier this week. Reports state that Mohammad …

Turkish drone strikes on Thursday killed seven members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) including two medical personnel, in Iraq’s northern province of Erbil, the counter-terrorism service said, as Turkey’s foreign minister visited the region. Three PKK fighters were killed in Sidakan district when a Turkish drone struck their vehicle, …

As Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is set to meet in Baghdad with Iraqi leaders, disrupted oil flows, water and cooperation against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party are expected to top the agenda. Iraq and Turkey failed to agree on the resumption of oil exports via the southern Mediterranean port …

The Biden Administration has destabilized the Middle East, launched a potential international nuclear arms race, incentivized global terrorism, increased American taxpayers’ funding both sides of the Ukraine war, crushed even further a people fighting for their freedom and appeased yet another rogue regime — after Afghanistan, China and Venezuela – …

Efforts to reform the Iraqi Kurdish security forces known as the Peshmerga are at serious risk of failing. Tensions between the ruling parties of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region are not new, but the working relationship between the leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) …