Middle Orient

For all its human tragedy and geopolitical drama, the war in Ukraine’s impact on the European Union’s retail politics includes comic elements worthy of a reality TV show. From week to week, the bloc’s leaders have vied to outdo one another in their declarations and demonstrations of support for Ukraine’s …

The death of an Iranian Defense Ministry engineer last month at Iran’s Parchin military complex, located about 30 kilometers, or 19 miles, southeast of Tehran was caused by “industrial sabotage,” an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commander told an Iranian media outlet. Hassani Ahangar made the comments to the semiofficial Entekhab …

Syrian President Bashar Assad accepted the credentials of Bahrain’s new ambassador to Damascus. Assad “exchanged discussions with him on a number of topics and issues of concern to the two brotherly countries, wishing him success in his mission,” according to the state news agency SANA. Waheed Mubarak Sayyar was appointed …

Eleven soldiers and two civilians were killed in an attack on a bus in northern Syria on Monday, the Syrian military said in a statement. The bus was ambushed at 6:30 am local time while en route from the Ar Raqqah Governorate to the central province of Homs in an …

Biden Should Strike a New Strategic Compact With the Kingdom What do you do with an oil-rich Arab leader that you can’t live with, but also can’t live without? That’s the dilemma President Joe Biden is confronting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. Since the beginning of …

Multiple counterterrorism operations against Islamic State hideouts in both Iraq and Syria in recent weeks have taken out men whom officials claim were leaders within the international terrorist organization. As the fifth anniversary of Iraqi forces’ retaking of Mosul from the Islamic State (IS) approaches, counterterrorism operations in the country …

The Biden administration may be considering options for a Plan B if nuclear talks fail, but backchannel diplomacy is continuing. US officials and nonproliferation experts warn Iran needs only weeks to produce enough weapons-grade fuel to build a bomb, raising pressure on the Biden administration to secure a deal that …

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will take over as prime minister. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid agreed a short while ago to dissolve the Israeli parliament next week. With this, the country will see its fifth election in just three-and-a-half years. In a joint statement, Bennett and …

At the latest Astana Group meeting on Syria, Russia and Iran tried to soothe Turkey by rejecting the Kurdish-led self-rule in northern Syria in a joint declaration this week. Turkey failed to garner Russian and Iranian backing for a fresh military intervention against Syrian Kurdish forces at the meeting of …

Discussions between Turkey, Finland and Sweden about the Nordic countries’ proposed NATO membership have ended inconclusively as Ankara showed no signs of abandoning its hardline position. Discussions between Turkey, Finland and Sweden about the Nordic countries’ NATO membership held in Brussels today ended inconclusively as Ankara showed no signs of …