Middle Orient

Kyrgyzstan’s use of Turkish drones in a border dispute with Tajikistan leaves Turkey in a tight spot on how to balance its ties in Central Asia, a region where it has long sought to expand its influence. Turkey’s efforts to add strategic depth to its ties with Central Asia appear …

An Embattled Regime Faces Mass Protests—and an Ailing Supreme Leader Early this month, the Iranian rumor mill cranked into overdrive amid reports that Iran’s 83-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who survived prostate cancer surgery in 2014, was again gravely ill. On September 16, the New York Times reported that …

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been named the kingdom’s prime minister, a position traditionally held by the king. Prince Mohammed, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, is first in line to succeed his father as king, who announced the new position on Tuesday in a royal …

Two people were killed and eight were wounded on Tuesday by Turkish artillery targeting homes and workshops controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the countryside of Syria’s northern province of Hasakah, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported. SDF retaliated by shelling villages controlled by Turkish troops …

Iran ramps up its bombing campaign in northern Iraq in what Iraqi Kurds argue is an attempt to divert the world’s attention from the killing of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini. Iran unleashed a wave of missiles and drones on the headquarters of three separate Iranian Kurdish opposition groups based in …

İtalya’da erken genel seçimlerin ilk sonucu şaşırtıcı değil. Faşist lider Mussolini’nin ardılı olarak kabul edilen İtalya’nın Kardeşleri Partisi (Fdl) lideri Meloni oyların yüzde 26’sını aldı. İçinde bulunduğu aşırı sağ ittifak yüzde 44 civarında oy aldı, hükümeti çok büyük olasılıkla bu yelpaze kuracak. Fdl 2018’de aldığı yüzde 4.4 oyu, altı kat …

These two bodies [Palestinian Authority (PA) and its ruling faction, Fatah] are headed by one man: Mahmoud Abbas, who has zero compunction about his loyalists murdering and wounding Israelis. On the contrary, he encourages it and pays generously for it — with money from Europe and the United States. Despite …

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Najib Mikati also says Lebanon should sign IMF agreement ‘as soon as possible.’ US mediation has helped moved Lebanon and Israel closer to a gas deal, says Lebanon’s prime minister, Najib Mitaki, but “there are still details to be clarified.” “So far I can say …

In an exclusive interview, Mustafa al-Kadhimi also discusses Iraq’s shift to regional hub for diplomacy and economic progress despite strong political headwinds. Iraq needs to distance itself from a “past that is full of violence” toward a future based on dialogue, said Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in an exclusive …

Geir Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria, says that the country faces a ‘crisis of epic proportions for the Syrian people.’ “There are absolutely no guarantees if we don’t move towards a nationwide cease-fire, and get the political process back on track, that things cannot collapse again,” said Geir …