Middle Orient

Paris marked the moment Washington quietly aligned with Ankara and Tel Aviv to close the Kurdish chapter in Syria’s war For nearly 15 years, US flags flew over Syrian territory with near-total impunity – from Kurdish towns to oil-rich outposts. In the northeast, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) manned …

Iran’s geography has turned it into a strategic hinge – one that anchors Russia’s southern depth and gives China an escape from US maritime containment. In the corridors of US strategic decision-making, Iran is no longer treated as a discrete regional file. Dealing with Tehran has become inseparable from great-power …

Washington claims the war has entered a ‘second phase,’ but conditions in Gaza show no power shift, no end to violence, and no real sovereignty – only what appears to be a rebranded form of occupation. The announcement arrived wrapped in the familiar choreography of diplomacy. Carefully chosen language, optimistic …

Lebanese Justice Minister Adel Nassar said the Syrian government has not formally requested that Lebanon hand over members of the former regime. In an interview with Saudi channel Al Arabiya on Saturday, 31 January, Nassar said Western countries had requested the handover of figures from the former Syrian regime. He …

State of Play Northeast Syria, for long the most stable corner of the country, has been plunged into turmoil following a military campaign by the government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Following days of fighting, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have now retreated to the Kurdish-majority portions of northeast Syria in …

The protests in Iran this month were the most recent in a series of popular uprisings that reveal a fundamental reality inside the country: The Islamic Republic in its current form is unsustainable. Since 2017, large-scale demonstrations have swept across Iran on four occasions, with masses of citizens from diverse …

The Afrin Region and the Kurdish Populations The following report, commissioned as a field assignment by the Middle East Forum, is an in-depth examination of the Afrin region located in northwest Syria along the border with Turkey. The region is known for having had a majority Kurdish population prior to …

The recent demonstrations in Iran that may have killed more than 5,000 civilians and security officers changed from largely peaceful to violent when a number of “agitators” got involved and sought to turn the gatherings focused on the poor economy into a drive to bring about regime change. It has …

Work continued for a second day at the center opened by Syria’s Ministry of Interior in Deir Ezzor (eastern Syria) to settle the status of individuals who were previously affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). A security source at the Internal Security Directorate in Deir Ezzor told Enab Baladi …

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