Middle Orient

American troops have been exchanging fire with alleged Iran-backed militas all week. The timing is curious, and dangerous. U.S. forces in Syria have been carrying out strikes against “Iran-backed” militias this week in response to a recent drone attack on the American base at Tanf and rocket attacks at two …

Unknown individuals assassinated the commander of the Baath Brigades, a close figure to the Lebanese Hezbollah party, in the countryside of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Monday. The official was assassinated in recent Israeli shelling in the Damascus countryside, said the Observatory.

One year after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan ended America’s nation-building project in the “graveyard of empires,” the Taliban-led country faces mass starvation and state collapse. Amidst that cauldron of human misery is what remains of al Qaeda, the terrorist group whose jihadist violence led the U.S. into Afghanistan way …

As a result of the clashes, Zirak Zahir, a Kurdish shepherd, and a militant were killed, he said. The other assailant fled the scene. A Kurdish shepherd was killed in southeast Kirkuk on Sunday by suspected ISIS militants, a security source told Kurdistan 24.

Armed supporters of a powerful Iraqi cleric who clashed with security forces in the capital began to withdraw from the streets Tuesday, restoring a measure of calm after a serious escalation of the nation’s political crisis. Following two days of deadly unrest that sparked fears instability might spread throughout the …

Iran has successfully implemented advanced uranium enrichment program, with the first of its cascades of advanced IR-6 centrifuges operating at its Natanz underground fuel enrichment plant, Reuters first reported, citing a report by the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. The report comes as the world powers, …

Iranian authorities have called on Iraqi factions to seek political solutions as Baghdad streets saw deadly clashes between members of the Shiite Sadrist movement and their Tehran-backed rivals. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said constitution-based dialogue among political blocs was the only path toward stability and security in Iraq, where the …

Prime Minister Yair Lapid was surprised by the briefings to the press of Mossad Director David Barnea, who accused the West and the United States of generating a strategic catastrophe for the region. The intense efforts by world powers to reach agreement with Iran on its nuclear program are sending …

Following Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s order, his followers have withdrawn completely from the Green Zone and evacuated the parliament building. At a press conference at noon in Baghdad, the leader of the Sadrist movement, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, ordered his followers to withdraw from the Green Zone within 60 minutes. …

The situation in Baghdad has calmed somewhat after cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on his supporters to pull back. Several regional countries have issued statements on the political violence in Iraq, expressing concern at the violence and urging calm. Last night supporters of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed the seat …