Middle Orient

Iran will keep backing the Palestinian resistance, in words and in practice, in a course that leads to the complete downfall of the Israeli regime, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Quds Force commander said. Addressing a cultural ceremony in Iran’s northeastern city of Mashhad, Brigadier General Esmaeil Qaani said the …

It is a cliché for politicians to claim that an upcoming election is the most critical vote in the history of the country. In Turkey’s case, however, the presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14 are indeed the most consequential ever. The prospects for Turkey’s democratic future are at stake. …

Every national election is a pivotal moment for any country, but some can be truly historic turning points. This was so for the 2002 election which brought Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AKP into power, and it is so for the 2023 election, which might very well mark the end …

The Israeli army killed three senior Islamic Jihad operatives, but this relatively small organization managed to paralyze Israel for four days, sending thousands of people to shelters. Despite mediation efforts by Egypt and other regional players, fighting resumed Friday on the fourth day of Israel’s Shield and Arrow Operation against …

Since the beginning of the fighting on Tuesday morning, 973 rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel and 761 of them crossed the Gaza border. A sixth senior Islamic Jihad operative who was on Israel’s most-wanted list for 26 years has been killed by the Israeli army in Gaza, as …

Incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu are wrapping up their campaigns; Russia became an issue in Friday’s rallies. With less than 40 hours to go until Turkey’s closest elections in its modern history, incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his top rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu are …

On April 19 and 20 Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, visited two of Iran’s close neighbors in central Asia. Facing each other across the Caspian Sea are Azerbaijan, which borders north-western Iran, and Turkmenistan, which borders its north-east. Both were among the fifteen republics once swallowed up by the USSR, …

Two French nationals that were imprisoned in Iran have been released on humanitarian grounds, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced on Friday. In a statement on Friday, Nasser Kanaani confirmed reports on the release of two French citizens from prison in Iran. He said the two French citizens, …

Fighting between the Palestinian resistance group Islamic Jihad and Israeli forces continued for a fourth day on Friday, with no signs of an imminent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. For the first time since the start of the current round of fighting, Islamic Jihad fired shells toward Jerusalem. They were …

Turkish presidential election Sunday goes down to the wires From a geopolitical perspective, the Turkish presidential election on Sunday may appear to be one of the most crucial non-violent political events of this year. But appearances can be deceptive in Turkish politics. In the surcharged polarisation of “West versus Rest” …