Middle Orient

Is Russia’s lucky streak in Syria and Libya finally running out? The Kremlin has gambled big on proxy warfare in both countries, deploying thousands of private military contractors with the so-called Wagner Group to back its favorite strongmen. But after a recent run of misfortunes for Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, …

With the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic crash dominating the headlines, the civil war in Syria has faded into media obscurity. But there is more bad news there that warrants the world’s attention. Turkey is engaged in a military campaign in Syria’s northwestern ldlib province that risks a conflict …

It was billed as a promising breakthrough — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meeting last month and agreeing to try to resolve their countries’ age-old differences, keeping, at least, a lid on tensions as the conflict in Ukraine rages. But on Thursday, as armed …

The Idlib-based group’s decision to hand over several jihadis to Turkey, including two men affiliated with the Islamic State, come as part of HTS’s attempt to present itself as more moderate. Reports about Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) handing over foreign jihadis to Turkey in exchange for being removed from international …

There is speculation about a secret deal between Ankara and Baghdad eyeing a contiguous, 30-kilometer-deep buffer from Syria to Iraq. Turkey’s fresh military operation against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, under way since April 18, has sparked debates in the Iraqi parliament over claims of a secret deal between the …

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told university students that there is a new multipolar world order emerging. During a speech to Iranian university students Wednesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke about a number of global developments. Khamenei said, “Today, the world is on the threshold of a …

Turkish military aircraft violated Greek airspace 90 times in one day, on April 15, and conducted three overflights of inhabited Greek islands, according to Greek media. Turkish aircraft have, in fact, been violating Greek airspace almost non-stop since the beginning of the year. In fact, Turkey — both its government …

From Ukraine to Syria, Drones Are Reshaping Erdogan’s Foreign Policy On April 14, Ukrainian forces stunned the world when they sank the Moskva, the heavily armed cruiser that was the flagship of Moscow’s Black Sea fleet. As widely noted in the international press, the Ukrainians succeeded in hitting the ship …

It seems fantastical, but observers may soon look back on the late twentieth century as a period of relative stability in the Middle East. Although there was no shortage of conflict and mayhem, the violence rarely led to dramatic change. No states were conquered and eliminated outright. Dictators came and …

The Idlib-based group’s decision to hand over several jihadis to Turkey, including two men affiliated with the Islamic State, come as part of HTS’s attempt to present itself as more moderate. Reports about Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) handing over foreign jihadis to Turkey in exchange for being removed from international …