Middle Orient

The US House of Representatives passed legislation last month to include the Middle East and North Africa as a category in the Uniform Racial Classification Act, which requires state agencies to compile and report statistical data using racial classifications, thus effectively defining which groups are recognized and which are not. …

China’s role in mediating peace between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia may resonate in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. In a recent visit to Beijing, French President Emmanuel Macron encouraged China to play a role in winding down the conflict in Ukraine. In late March, the European Union’s top diplomat …

For the first time in twenty years, a change of leadership in Turkey is possible. The EU must be prepared for the foreign policy shift an opposition victory would bring. Whether in the first round on May 14 or the second on May 28, Turkey’s presidential election will ultimately be …

Türkiye is preparing to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on 14 May 2023, after Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Türkiye, had announced that the date of the elections will be moved from the previously scheduled 18 June to 14 May 2023. These elections in Türkiye have been …

Ukraine has had considerable success using the drone against Russia since Moscow’s invasion last year. Turkey and Romania have signed a multimillion dollar deal to sell Bucharest 18 Bayraktar TB2 drones. The deal further cements Turkey’s military relations with eastern Europe amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. Turkey’s ambassador to …

Open-source reports indicated the Advantage Sweet was bound for Houston, Texas, when the United States said it was seized by Iran’s IRGC navy on Thursday afternoon. Naval forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized an oil tanker in international waters in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, the …

Turkish police on Tuesday detained 110 people over alleged militant ties, security sources said, with a pro-Kurdish lawmaker saying politicians, lawyers and journalists were among those held in raids that he linked to elections on May 14. The operation was focused on Diyarbakir, the largest city in mainly Kurdish southeast …

“Coalition Forces continue to see successful results with SDF-led operations in ar-Raqqah province.” The U.S. Combined Special Operations Joint Task Force – Levant (SOJTF LEVANT) on Monday said the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) arrested four ISIS operatives in Raqqa on April 14 and 15. “SDF, advised, assisted, and enabled by …

Local reports say barrage included pamphlets warning Syrian forces against co-operating with terrorist group Israel shelled a site in Syria belonging to Hezbollah early on Monday morning, according to reports in state-affiliated Syrian media. No injuries have been reported. The barrage was claimed to have taken place just across Israel’s …

An Israeli citizen was shot and injured on Tuesday in the northern West Bank as the country was marking Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and terror victims. The incident comes against a backdrop of increased tensions between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank in recent weeks, including a deadly …