Middle Orient

Russia says that European sanctions block the energy transfer to Turkiye and Balkan region, Reuters reports. According to the report, the Russian operator of a pipeline that supplies Turkiye and the Balkans with natural gas, South Stream Transport B.V, would suspend some maintenance and repair work, citing European Union sanctions, …

Growing up under a repressive system, Sharo, a 35-year-old university graduate, never thought she would hear words of open rebellion spoken out loud. Now she herself chants slogans like “Death to the Dictator!” with a fury she didn’t know she had, as she joins protests calling for toppling the country’s …

Held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from September 15 to 16, the 2022 summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Heads of State Council demonstrated that the SCO was continuing to evolve into a viable international political congregation independent from the West. Beginning in the early 1800s, international organizations (IOs) began to …

Clashes erupted between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Faylaq al-Sham, affiliated with the Turkish-backed FSA, due to differences over the alleged opening of a commercial crossing with the Syrian government-held areas in the eastern Idlib countryside. Clashes erupted Sept. 29 between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Free Syrian Army (FSA)-affiliated …

Turkey is likely to face stronger headwinds in the eastern Mediterranean after signing a controversial energy exploration deal with Libya’s interim government. Turkey’s signing of a hydrocarbon exploration deal with the Tripoli government has crippled its recent efforts to balance its policy in Libya and fanned the internal and external …

Pressured by opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, and concerned over Hezbollah attacking, Prime Minister Yair Lapid announced Israel will not negotiate its maritime border with Lebanon under threats. Within less than a week, the optimism that had swept through Jerusalem, Beirut and Washington regarding prospects for completing a deal on the …

US strikes knocked off the jihadist group’s second-highest Syrian commander and a smuggler believed to have helped kidnap and behead Kurdish officials. American military forces in Syria killed three top Islamic State officials in two separate operations over the past 24 hours, US officials said. The Islamic State’s deputy commander …

A satire show broadcast on Sweden’s state TV has cast clouds over a new round of Turkey-Sweden talks on NATO’s Nordic enlargement. The talks between Turkey and Sweden over Stockholm’s bid to join NATO appear to have yielded little signs of progress as Ankara summoned the Swedish ambassador in Ankara …

Iraq’s oil reduction per the recent OPEC+ agreement will not affect the country’s revenues, according to Iraq’s oil minister. During the 33rd OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting, which was held Oct. 5 at the OPEC headquarters in Vienna, Austria, the 23 member states decided to decrease oil production. According to …

Post-civil war Lebanon can be described as a series of calamitous events impacting a people who are already no stranger to being taken advantage of by their political system, as the civil war and subsequent three-decade Syrian military occupation had the combined consequence of eliminating all progressive resistance, creating a …