Middle Orient

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced on 12 May that it has officially ended its campaign of armed struggle and disbanded after four decades. The move came in direct response to a call by the group’s imprisoned founder, Abdullah Ocalan, on 27 February. This historic shift represents an opportunity to …

In a surprise statement last week in Saudi Arabia on the first stop of a Middle East tour, US President Donald Trump said he would lift all sanctions on Syria, a decision which caught the world off guard, including members of his own administration. The announcement, seen as the first …

Tulkarem, occupied West Bank – Since Israel officially waged Operation Iron Wall on 21 January, nearly 100 Palestinians have been killed and more than 45,000 forcibly displaced in the West Bank, mostly from the Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams refugee camps. At least 16,000 of those displaced were expelled from …

Information Cutoff: 2:00 pm ET The Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) publish the Iran Update, which provides insights into Iranian and Iranian-sponsored activities that undermine regional stability and threaten US forces and interests. CTP-ISW publishes the Iran …

The IDF launched Operation Gideon’s Chariots, a large-scale ground operation combined withaerial attacks targeting Hamas and other terrorist organizations. An assassination attempt wasmade on the life of Muhammad al-Sinwar, considered head of Hamas’ military wing. Palestinians reported hundreds of casualties and damage to hospitals in the Gaza Strip. The Qatari …

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei expressed pessimism about the US-Iran nuclear negotiations and explicitly rejected the US demand for zero uranium enrichment.[i] Khamenei’s statements are consistent with CTP-ISW’s assessment that disagreements between Iran and the United States about the issue of zero uranium enrichment may stall the negotiations or delay …

Senior Iranian regime officials condemned Israel for the escalation of attacks in the GazaStrip. Iran’s Supreme Leader called Israel “a dangerous and deadly cancerous tumor that mustbe uprooted.” The Iranian foreign minister met with a Hamas delegation and condemned theinternational community’s impotence in the face of Israel’s actions. Iran’s ambassador …

Israeli security officials reportedly held direct talks with representatives of the Syriangovernment in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan; the IDF denied the meeting. Syrian PresidentAhmed al-Sharaa (Abu Muhammad al-Julani) reportedly approved the transfer of the Syrianarchive on the late Mossad agent Eli Cohen to Israel as a goodwill gesture. Syrian …

“Tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria,” President Donald Trump told interim leader Ahmad al-Sharaa in Riyadh on May 14 — just after lifting all U.S. sanctions on Syria. Yet on May 18, Syria’s Defense Ministry welcomed the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), an al-Qaeda-linked Uyghur jihadist group active in Afghanistan …

A joke has it that Syria’s self-proclaimed president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, offered to build a Trump Tower in Damascus to make up for the two New York towers that Al-Qaeda, al-Sharaa former organization, destroyed on 9/11, killing 2,753 Americans. Times are changing. Since October 7, Iran has been begging America for …