Middle Orient

The leader of Lebanese Hezbollah is threatening to attack an Israeli gas project off the Lebanon-Israel coast if it becomes operational before their sea border is agreed upon. Hezbollah’s threats demonstrate the ability of the Iran-backed party to influence Lebanon’s national security decisions.

For more than a year, the Iranian population has taken to the streets to ask for more rights and more jobs. However, it seems that the West became aware only now of the existence of demonstrations in Iran against the dictatorial regime. The Iranians have tried in every possible way …

The renewed agreement entails further steps to reform peshmerga forces as Pentagon aims to prepare Iraq’s forces for long-term self-sufficiency. The United States renewed its agreement with Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Wednesday to continue providing security support in the wake of the war against the Islamic State (IS). …

Botched suicide bombings came less than two weeks after the top US general in the Middle East sounded the alarm over security and humanitarian conditions at al-Hol camp. Four Islamic State (IS) fighters are dead and one has been captured after attempting a suicide attack this week aimed at the …

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 …

Amid the ongoing circus over efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, two rumors have started to gain traction inside and outside Iran: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is on his deathbed and preparations are being made for his son, Mojtaba, to succeed him. Speculation over Khamenei’s ill health …

The latest round of mass protests in Iran erupted over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman. She died on Sept. 16 at the hands of the so-called morality police for allegedly violating Iran’s rules on mandatory veiling in public. Amini’s tragic death is yet another reminder of how …

Commander of U.S. Air Force Central Command, Lt. Gen Alex Grynkewich, said on Monday that Russia’s presence in Syria has become “more aggressive” both in the air and on the ground. “The Russian presence in Syria has become, I would argue, more aggressive since the Ukrainian invasion,” Grynkewich said. This …

While Russia announced its readiness to “create the atmosphere” for a meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries, Western diplomatic sources in Ankara said that the security negotiations currently underway between Syrian and Turkish intelligence on the issue of rapprochement between Damascus and Ankara may end soon. The …

The opposition-run channel Iran International reported that Israeli airstrikes targeting Damascus last Saturday had aimed at the so-called Unit 2250 — a private Iranian logistics institution responsible for coordinating equipment transfers— which is managed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Israeli airstrikes hit warehouses, parking lots, and even the unit’s head …