Middle Orient

In March 2023, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations, with China playing a role as the host of the talks. This generated considerable discussion among policymakers and the scholarly community. Some believed this indicated a new change in China’s approach to the Middle East, which has primarily …

Islamist parties are falling out of favor across the region, as leaders hope to offer economic benefits combined with authoritarianism. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, facing a difficult election on May 14, announced on April 30 that Turkish intelligence had killed Abu Hussein al-Quraishi — the latest self-styled “Islamic State …

Belgium police have arrested an Iraqi immigrant suspected of belonging to an al-Qaeda cell that carried out deadly car bombings in Baghdad in 2009-2010, prosecutors said Friday. The man, identified by the initials O.Y.T., born in 1979, was detained on Wednesday when police raided an address near the city of …

The new sanctions target members of US-designated terrorist groups Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad. The US Treasury Department coordinated with the government of Turkey to impose sanctions Tuesday on two men accused of serving as financial facilitators for terrorist groups in Syria’s opposition-controlled northwest. The Treasury action targets …

US forces ‘advised, assisted and enabled’ operation that comes amid rise in anti-ISIS activities The Syrian Democratic Forces have captured two ISIS smuggling operatives in the country’s north-eastern Hasakah province, US partner forces announced on Tuesday. The US Combined Special Operations Joint Task Force said the SDF led an April …

The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) on Thursday announced that it eliminated a “high-ranking” member of the PKK/KCK terrorist group in a pinpoint operation in the northern Iraqi region of Gara. Ahmet Gümüş, codenamed “Cudi Engizek,” had been the so-called training officer of the KCK/PKK terrorists since 2022, the agency said, …

Centcom claims a helicopter assault led to the death of an individual responsible for planning terror attacks in the Middle East and Europe A senior ISIS Syria leader has been killed after US forces conducted a targeted raid in the north of the country on Monday, Central Command says. Washington …

The Arab League will address Syria’s readmittance to the alliance and the ongoing violence in Sudan. The Arab League will meet this Sunday to discuss Sudan and Syria, as violence rages in Khartoum and the debate heats up on readmitting the Syrian government to the organization. Agence France-Presse reported that …

The meeting between Raisi and Palestinian officials comes days after Palestinian militants fired dozens of rockets from the Gaza Strip toward southern Israel in response to the death of Islamic Jihad prisoner Khader Adnan. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi met on Thursday with senior Palestinian representatives from militant groups in the …

An alleged trip to the UAE capital by Syrian Democratic Forces chief Mazloum Kobane, which Emirati officials deny, came just before he was targeted by a Turkish drone last month. The Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria is seeking the United Arab Emirates’ help to broker a deal with the Syrian …