Middle Orient

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Syrian Democratic Forces head Mazlum Kobane said he expects a Turkish attack in February, and warned Ankara should not punish Syria’s Kurds over its own failure to resolve its own domestic issues. Turkey has renewed threats to launch another ground offensive in northeast Syria. Speaking …

Senior former Iranian diplomats have slammed Tehran for failing to revive the nuclear deal and supplying drones to Russia in Ukraine, warning that the country risks becoming economically weakened and isolated. Hamid Aboutalebi, a former political adviser to Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s previous president, tweeted on Monday that “Iranian foreign policy …

It has become a cliché to describe relations between Turkiye and Iran as a “manageable competition”and “reluctant cooperation.” In many ways, Ankara’s relations with Tehran resemble its relations with Moscow, and Syria best displays the complicated nature of ties between all three. In particular, the Astana peace process these three …

The newly-initiated Syrian-Turkish rapprochement talks are headed in Damascus’ favor and the “Turkish concessions” derided by opponents are just the start, insiders tell The Cradle. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already abandoned his dream of “praying in the Umayyad Mosque” in Damascus. But sources say this will be swiftly …

Iran has significantly stepped up its air defense systems deployment to Syria over the past two years, according to a 10 January report released by Newsweek citing an anonymous intelligence official from “a nation allied” with Washington. As part of this boost in the supply of defense technology to Damascus, …

On 8 January, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkiye is determined to send flour and grain to African states through the Black Sea corridor. He added that the Russian President Vladimir Putin assured Ankara that Russia would be able to provide grain for free on the condition that …

As the prospect of a rapprochement between Ankara and Damascus becomes more imminent, the most extreme elements of Syria’s armed opposition have been feeling a sting of betrayal, accelerating a trend that, over the past year, has seen many jihadists relocate to Ukraine. This is especially true for foreign militants, …

On July 19, 2022, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Russian gas company Gazprom worth close to $40 billion. The deal was signed by the CEOs of both companies during a virtual ceremony on the same day that Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived …

Following a relatively quiet year in the Middle East from Europe’s perspective, 2023 is likely to bring significant challenges in the region – and governments in London and other European capitals will need to be prepared. In 2022, the Middle East seemed to drop down the list of priorities for …

The precision of Iranian-made suicide UAVs, combined with their cheapness, has turned them into a potent weapon on the battlefields of Ukraine. The appearance of Iran’s Shahed 131/136 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Ukraine has catapulted them to the centre of global attention and generated numerous papers by military observers …