Middle Orient

The residents of Tadef in the Aleppo countryside are rejecting a military trench being dug by the Turkish army that would cross through their city, calling on changing its course and retaking control of the areas held by the Syrian government forces inside the city. The Turkish army on May …

The Iraqi Ministry of Oil has announced plans to establish a new oil company for the Kurdistan Region. Amid the tense relations between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over the implementation of the Federal Supreme Court’s ruling that deemed the 2007 oil and gas law governing …

Israel’s top security and intelligence officials can’t agree on whether Israel is better off with or without an Iran nuclear deal. Israel’s top defense and security brass is engaged in a tense dispute over the handling of Iran’s nuclear program. The drama is reminiscent of the deep disagreement among Israel’s …

Ankara’s threats come amid a spat with NATO allies over Finland and Sweden’s request to join the Western alliance. Turkey’s National Security Council said on Thursday that Turkey’s “existing and future military operations” along its southern borders were necessary for the country’s security but that they did not target the …

The Turkish president continues his aggressive games toward Syria, taking advantage of the current international instability caused by the war in Ukraine. He announced to the international community that his regime continues to seek the establishment of a 30 km-deep safe zone inside Syrian territory. There are preparations being made …

The current Syrian identity does not represent all Syrians, a Syrian Kurdish opposition official said Saturday, arguing that other non-Arabic-speaking communities in the country existed and deserved special status. “The current Syrian Arab identity does not apply to everyone, as there are many other components such as Kurds, Turkmen, and …

On Wednesday, pro-Assad news outlets mourned the death of Brigadier-General Nashwan al-Saad, who hails from the city of al-Qaryatan in the eastern countryside of Homs, during a patrol of Assad’s forces in the Syrian Badia. In parallel, the Fourth Division militia lost contact with a lieutenant colonel and 10 members …

A senior Pentagon official revealed that Russian forces began to gradually withdraw their troops from various parts of Syria — specifically from the Hemeimeem air base southeast of Lattakia. The forces withdrawn include thousands of infantry, aviation, and engineering units. In a statement to Sky News, the official added that …

A “Safe-zone” for a million Syrian refugees to return to. That’s the plan Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan has promised to implement, only a year before the next Turkish general elections. In fact, and as the presence of more than 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey continues to cause controversy …

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard seized two Greek oil tankers Friday in helicopter-launched raids in the Persian Gulf, officials said. The action appeared to be retaliation for Athens’ assistance in the U.S. seizure of crude oil from an Iranian-flagged tanker this week in the Mediterranean Sea over violating Washington’s crushing sanctions …