Middle Orient

The Royal Air Force carried out a drone strike in Syria against a “leading” ISIS terrorist who was involved in chemical and biological weapons, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told the Commons on Monday. The strike took place in December, with two missiles fired, both of which “struck the target accurately”, …

Iran has agreed to stop sending weapons to its Houthi allies in Yemen as part of a deal to re-establish diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia that was brokered by China, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has reported, quoting US and Saudi officials. Tehran’s move would hasten new efforts to achieve …

The 20th anniversary of the war criminal US, UK and Australian invasion of Iraq in 2003 will fall on about 20 March 2023. On this occasion mendacious and racist Western media will at best remember the Iraq War as a US policy mistake. However decent people will remember the carnage. …

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has been invited to Riyadh by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, who expressed his desire to strengthen economic and regional cooperation between the two countries. Mohammad Jamshidi, the Iranian president’s deputy chief of staff for political affairs, confirmed the invitation in a Twitter post, saying that Raisi …

The UAE’s president on Sunday told his Syrian counterpart it was time for diplomatically isolated Damascus to be reintegrated into the wider Arab region during a meeting in Abu Dhabi. The trip by Syrian President Bashar Assad — his second to the UAE in as many years — comes after …

Over the past two decades Iraq has been affected by several waves of intense conflict and violence. The 2003 invasion of Iraq by a multinational coalition led by the United States and United Kingdom toppled the Ba’athist regime of Saddam Hussein. It also ushered in years of chaos and civil …

Finnish politicians and analysts anticipate concrete and positive results from President Sauli Niinistö’s two-day visit to Ankara on Friday, which Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will also attend. Niinistö’s two-day visit could be a breakthrough for Finland, which has seen its membership bid thwarted by Turkey and Hungary for over …

The two countries’ deputy foreign ministers plus those of Russia and Iran had been due to meet to discuss further rapprochement efforts. A planned meeting of senior Turkish, Russian, Syrian and Iranian diplomats was reportedly postponed Thursday following a series of talks aimed at resetting in ties between Ankara and …

Syrian President Bashar al Assad said on Thursday he would only meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan when Turkey was ready to completely withdraw its military from northern Syria and restore the situation that existed before the Syrian war. Turkey has been the biggest military and political ally of the Syrian …

In a matter of days, Saudi Arabia carried out blockbuster agreements with the world’s two leading powers — China and the United States. Riyadh signed a Chinese-facilitated deal aimed at restoring diplomatic ties with its arch-nemesis Iran and then announced a massive contract to buy commercial planes from U.S. manufacturer …