Middle Orient

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad thanked Iran Saturday night for helping to reduce tension between Damascus and Ankara. Turkey has been threatening in recent weeks to invade northern Syria, launch a military operation against Kurdish militias in the area, and establish a 30-kilometer buffer zone along the border by removing …

While the leaders of NATO were meeting in Madrid last week, another gathering was taking place 5,300 km to the east in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, where the leaders of the five littoral states of the Caspian Sea (Russia, Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan) gathered for the 6th Caspian Summit. It was …

The strike came shortly before midnight on Monday, according to al-Araby al-Jadeed. A drone strike by the U.S.-led coalition in northwestern Syria killed a senior member of an Al-Qaeda-linked group, Syrian opposition activists and the U.S. military said on Tuesday. The attack on the suspected militant, who was riding a …

The attack is the deadliest since the start of a series of assassinations in the area, according to al-Modon. An unidentified armed group attacked the house of the former secretary-general of the Baath Socialist Party branch in the Daraa governorate, Kamal al-Atma, in the northern city of al-Sanamayn. They killed …

Iran-backed militias continue to arrest Syrian fighters who refuse to fight with them, according to Asharq al-Awsat. Iran-backed militias continue to arrest local fighters who refuse to participate in combing operations in the Deir-ez-Zor countryside desert. The militias arrested at least 28 Syrian members amid reports of apprehending others who …

Turkey, Finland and Sweden have signed a memorandum “that addresses Turkey’s concerns.” Did Turkey receive a green light to launch an operation in Northern Syria? Ankara’s unexpected decision to welcome Sweden and Finland into NATO led many observers to believe that it got tacit approval from western countries for an …

In an ideal scenario, Iraq would completely break free from Iranian control. Unfortunately, today’s world — and the Middle East in particular — rarely sees an ideal scenario come to light. The Goldilocks scenario is a mirage in our region. Instead, we usually witness a complicated and endless situation. This …

The internal fighting among FSA factions and the ambitions of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to expand its control in the northwest of Syria did not prevent the Turkish-backed FSA factions from continuing their security operations to crack down on Islamic State cells in the countryside of Aleppo. The Turkish-backed Free Syrian …

The comments were made against the backdrop of an unexpected shakeup within the IRGC’s intelligence wing following a series of breaches. According to the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, hostile foreign spy agencies are waging a war of intelligence against the Islamic Republic. …

In the battle between Israel’s security agencies, the Mossad estimates that US President Joe Biden’s administration is eager to reach a deal with Iran, at whatever cost. Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, head of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), paid a visit this week to the headquarters of Unit 8200, the …