Middle Orient

Blinken calls Turkey’s FM Hakan Fidan, Sweden’s NATO bid tops agenda

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Turkey’s new Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also touched upon bilateral relations and defense cooperation. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Turkey’s new Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Thursday to congratulate him on his appointment, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. State Department …

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Deciphering Turkey’s new Cabinet: Real reform or window dressing?

President Erdogan’s new Cabinet so far reflects a shift to his reformist days — whether that plays out as such remains to be seen. Turkey’s flailing economy topped the agenda as the country’s new Cabinet convened Tuesday under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the first time since he won a …

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IntelBrief: Iran and the Taliban Clash

A recent border clash between Iranian and Taliban forces marked the latest phase of a longstanding water rights dispute between the two countries. The fighting might upend Tehran’s relationship with Taliban leaders, which is already burdened by the Taliban’s brutal treatment of Shia Muslims and some Persian-speaking Afghan groups. Both …

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Reports say Turkish shelling in north Syria kills a Russian soldier, wounds others

Turkish shelling in northern Syria early Monday hit a vehicle killing one Russian soldier and wounding several others, Syrian Kurdish media and an opposition war monitor reported. Monday’s shelling came after a day of violence between U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters and Turkish troops in northern Syria left several dead on the …

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Iran unveils first hypersonic missile ‘Fattah,’ says no system can intercept it

Boastfully adding to its already massive stockpile of long-range projectiles, Tehran appeared headed for a fresh collision course with Israel and its Western adversaries, which remain unnerved by Iran’s missile program. Iran unveiled on Tuesday what it described as its first domestically developed hypersonic missile, pressing ahead with the controversial …

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US Losing Pretexts For Occupying Eastern Syria – OpEd

When the US led an international coalition in mid-2014 to bomb Daesh targets in Syria and Iraq, the terrorist organization had already occupied large swathes of territory spanning the two Arab countries and had the means to send its fighters all the way to Baghdad. A dozen nations carried out …

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Iran’s Growing Rift Between Theocrats and Security Elites

In the aftermath of nationwide protests, tensions are rising among the Iranian establishment. One consequence of the nationwide protests in Iran sparked by the tragic death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in September 2022 has been the widely celebrated retreat of the morality police responsible for enforcing Iran’s mandatory …

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How Israel Can Solve Its Gaza Problem – Analysis

Israel has in recent years been living with a dangerous phenomenon, to which it has wrongly become accustomed, without any real debate as to its advisability. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) are Palestinian terror organizations committed to annihilating Israel, controlling Gaza, and threatening to launch attacks at times of …

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Another PKK terrorist surrenders to Turkish authorities

Authorities announced Saturday that one member of the PKK terrorist group has surrendered after long persuasion efforts by security forces in Türkiye’s eastern province of Hakkari. “One male member of the PKK/KCK was convinced to turn himself into Türkiye. He was brought to Hakkari, reunited with his family and later …

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SDF hands over dozens of ISIS terrorists to Iraq

50 Iraqi prisoners belonging to ISIS group and 168 families of ISIS militants were returned from Syria to Iraq on Saturday, an Iraqi official source revealed. The source explained that terrorists brought back from Syria will be interrogated by the Iraqi security and tried in Iraqi courts, AFP reported. Families …

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