Middle Orient

Mosul has reclaimed its spirit with the completion of a UAE-led project that restored historic landmarks and erased some of the last remnants of ISIS destruction. The seven-year project in the 2,500-year-old Iraqi city involved the reconstruction of Al Nuri Mosque and its leaning minaret, along with the churches of …

During the Syrian Civil War, which broke out in 2011, the area of south Syria became an arena for the activity of Salafi-jihadist terrorist organizations in addition to Hezbollah and the Iranian Qods Force, which sought to establish another front against Israel based on local operatives and Shi’ite militias.The fall …

Ahmed Mouaffaq Zaidan, the newly appointed media adviser to Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, has published an article on Al Jazeera Net urging the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood to dissolve itself. This call cannot be dismissed as a personal opinion from a former Brotherhood-affiliated journalist. Coming just days after …

On Wednesday, 27 August 2025, a group of Alawite activists based abroad announced the formation of the “Political Council for Central and Western Syria” (PCCWS). In a founding statement published via a recorded video on its official Facebook page, the council called for the establishment of a federal region encompassing …

A recent article by Dr. Ahmed Muwaffaq Zaidan on Al Jazeera, urging the dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, has stirred debate. Some welcomed the idea as a way to move beyond a long-burdensome legacy; others saw it as a worrying signal of exclusion at a moment that calls …

Iran’s leaders are trying to prevent the disarmament of their non-state allies in an effort to rebuild the national security strategy shattered by a year of Israeli and U.S. military operations.Seeking to avoid being drawn into regional wars provoked by Iran’s allies, governments in the region are striving to exercise …

In mid-August, Syria’s Druze minority crossed a historic threshold. In its southern province, demonstrators demanded self-determination for the first time, rejecting Damascus’s authority and waving Israeli flags – a stunning departure for a community long known for cautious neutrality. The shift came in the wake of July’s violence in Suweida, …

In a move that sparked international condemnation, a group of Israeli settlers crossed into Syrian territory near the village of Bariqa in Quneitra province on 18 August and attempted to establish a new settlement on Israeli military-controlled land. The incursion, three kilometres away from Alonei Habashan, an Israeli settlement located …

Iranian parliamentarians introduced a three-part bill on August 28 to withdraw Iran from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), likely to pressure the E3 (the United Kingdom, France, and Germany) to not reimpose UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions on Iran.[1] The bill would require Iran to leave …

It is not clear whether the recent Israeli and U.S. military strikes have decreased or increased the likelihood of a nuclear-armed Iran. The attacks have certainly inflicted major damage to the country’s nuclear program. But they have not extinguished the Islamic Republic’s interest in nuclear weapons. They have amplified uncertainty …