Middle Orient

In the chaos following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, looting on a massive scale hit Syria’s armories. Tens of thousands of small arms and light weapons flowed into the hands of civilians, criminals, and armed groups in a country which already had a thriving illicit arms …

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said Sunday his group would not surrender or lay down its weapons in response to Israeli threats, despite pressure on the Lebanese militants to disarm. His speech came ahead of a visit expected Monday by US envoy Thomas Barrack during which Lebanese authorities are due to …

Hamas and Israel were resuming talks in Qatar on Monday, a Palestinian official said, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to Washington to meet President Donald Trump, who has pushed for a “deal this week” between the foes. The latest round of negotiations on the war in Gaza began on …

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In the aftermath of the coordinated United States (US)-Israel airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Islamic Parliament of Iran passed a resolution recommending a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz—a 32-kilometre-wide passageway between Iran and Oman that opens in the Arabian Sea. Although the final decision rests with Iran’s Supreme …

US air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities have upended the already tense standoff between Tehran, Washington, and Israel, raising urgent questions about what comes next — and just how far Iran might go in its retaliation. Tehran faces the difficult task of crafting a response that is neither too weak …

While uncertainty lingers in the wake of President Donald Trump’s surprise ceasefire announcement in a war that has raged between Iran and Israel—and drawn in direct U.S. intervention—another archnemesis of Tehran lurks in the shadows. The Islamic State militant group (ISIS) operates both east and west of Iran and has …

The fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 has not ended Syria’s security challenges, as episodes of sectarian violence and Islamic State resurgence persist, exacerbated by foreign fighters embedded within fragmented militia networks. Initial international efforts to expel foreign fighters fell short, leading to a policy shift toward integrating …

The Iran-Israel conflict confirmed a shift in the regional balance of power away from Iran, but might set the stage for further combat. U.S. and Israeli officials have defined a “new normal” in which either will take further military action if Iran tries to advance its nuclear program. Gulf and …

Less than two weeks after rebel forces led by Ahmad al-Sharaa ousted Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, a U.S. State Department delegation arrived in Damascus to talk with the country’s new leader. It was a meeting few could have predicted. Roughly a decade earlier, the U.S. had declared al-Sharaa — …