Middle Orient

Syrian government forces are deployed in the Syrian desert in preparation for a large campaign against the Islamic State. Media sources from Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria told Al-Monitor that government forces instructed members in Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa to mobilize ahead of a major military operation in the Badia …

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz traveled this week to Azerbaijan on the backdrop of growing tensions with Iran and Jerusalem’s desire to deepen strategic, security and economic ties with Baku. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz traveled this week to Azerbaijan, where he met with President Ilham Aliyev and Defense Minister …

According to Iranian authorities, those protesting Mahsa Amini’s death are some of the youngest ever seen in the country. According to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the latest protests in Iran are being attended by some of the youngest age groups ever to attend protests in the country. Ali …

Iran has vowed to respond to any “hostile actions” after an Iranian drone was reportedly shot down en route to Erbil. The chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, Mohammed Bagheri, vowed Friday to respond to any “hostile actions” targeting Iranian drones, Iranian news outlets reported. The threats followed Wednesday’s …

In his first speech since the outbreak of protests Sept. 16, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused the United States and Israel of promoting unrest in the country. For the first time since protests swept the country nearly two weeks ago, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has addressed …

As one of the signatories of the original Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the flawed nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration, Russia, as well as China, will ultimately have a say in any new agreement that emerges from the Vienna talks. Rather than seeking to curb Iran’s nuclear …

European Eye on Radicalization (EER) recently hosted its fifteenth webinar on the thorny issue of whether jihadist foreign fighters from Europe and their families should be brought home, with specific reference to the members of the Islamic State (ISIS) in the camps in Syria. Despite the destruction of ISIS’s “caliphate” …

Turkey’s interior minister on Saturday described a gun attack that killed a police officer in the country’s south as an “America-based” operation. Two suspected Kurdish militants opened fire on security force lodgings in the Mediterranean province of Mersin late Monday, killing one officer and wounding a second officer and a …

Turkish warplanes “neutralized” 23 Kurdish militants in a raid 140 kilometers (90 miles) inside Iraq, the Turkish Defense Ministry said Sunday. The ministry usually refers to killed militants as “neutralized.” It said the number of casualties in the mission in the Asos region of northern Iraq, which is controlled by …

On the Jewish new year holy day of Rosh HaShanah, September 26th and 27 this year, Jews throughout the world read the Torah chapters of Genesis 21 and 22; the narrations of Abraham, the Hebrew’s (Genesis 14:13) two first born sons: Ishmael, Abraham’s first born son of Hagar the Egyptian; …