Middle Orient

Chinese leader Xi Jinping clearly aspires to establish a new global economic order centered around Beijing, not Washington. However, a new global economic order cannot be built in a day. The immensity of this challenge has forced Xi to set his sights on a set of interim goals. These include …

Analysis: The maritime objectives of Saudi Arabia and the UAE have played a key role in determining the war’s direction, with control over Yemen’s ports a major driver of the military and diplomatic strategies of all sides involved in the conflict. Despite fighting side by side in Yemen, the United …

Since the Syrian uprising began in 2011, Ankara has been drawn ever deeper into the crisis. Its approach will likely hold steady for now. But the choices it makes next matter for the fate of millions of Syrians. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s re-election has allayed fears among many Syrians …

The European Union said on Thursday it had established a “new framework for restrictive measures” in view of Iran’s military support of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and of Syria’s regime. This new framework prohibits the export from the European Union to Iran of components used in the construction …

Turkey’s two key appointments are new foreign minister and former intelligence chief, Hakan Fidan; and the newly-appointed intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalın, also an Erdoğan confidant. Both men have interesting and impressive careers. How both of them have become the only two people who make policy and share power with Erdoğan …

As the Turkish president shifts his focus toward Kyiv, he is essentially testing Moscow’s new red lines. How firmly is Russia prepared to react in a situation where it is simultaneously fending off a Ukrainian counteroffensive and recovering from the Wagner mutiny? Following his hard-fought victory in the May presidential …

Five ISIS terrorists were killed during a swift air raid in Kirkuk (250 kilometers north of Baghdad), revealed an Iraqi military statement on Tuesday. Additionally, two other individuals were apprehended in the same city through a well-executed ambush, the statement added. “The intelligence personnel of the Counter-Terrorism Bureau have, after …

Hoping to counter Iran’s influence and end drug smuggling, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition of Arab states in rehabilitating the Syrian regime. This is not only a moral but also a strategic mistake, writes Faysal Abbas Mohamad. To most Syria observers, the accelerated Saudi-led drive to rehabilitate the Assad …

Many Syrians were incensed last week at the appearance of Bashar al-Assad at the Arab League, twelve years after he was suspended due to his brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2011. On the day of the Arab League meeting, thousands of Syrians took to the streets in over 15 …

Despite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad being welcomed back onto the international stage, all is not well at home. His country is broken into three parts, which, at best, are in a state of uneasy coexistence and at worst are stuck in a low-intensity active conflict. In the country’s northwestern Idlib …