Middle Orient

Tensions continue to rise between the governments of Israel and Iran after the mysterious deaths of an Iranian missile scientist and a senior military officer. Ayoob Enterazi died under suspicious circumstances on May 31. He was a Ph.D. holder in aerospace engineering at Iran’s prestigious Sharif University of Technology in …

When Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visits his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, in Ankara this week, Turkey’s proposal to establish a safe transport corridor for Ukrainian grain exports will be a top agenda item. If realized, the Black Sea corridor would require a naval escort, mine-clearing, and inspections to ensure …

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday Greece should stop arming islands in the Aegean Sea that have a demilitarised status and abide by international agreements, in comments likely to further fuel long-running tensions between the neighbours. The NATO allies have long been at odds over issues such as maritime …

While the war in Syria has receded from the international spotlight, residents in the country’s northeast are bracing for a new wave of armed conflict. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has for months threatened to launch a military invasion of the region to push back Syrian Kurdish fighters and create …

Back in June 2011, when news began to filter out from Syria of the first signs of armed resistance against the Baathist regime of President Bashar al-Assad, few could have predicted the level of disruption to the global order that the conflict in Syria would go on to produce. After …

Those who support a terrorist organization that targets a NATO ally should not be a part of the security bloc, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday. In a briefing, the ministry underlined that Turkey continues to share the values ​​and responsibilities of NATO and remains at the center of the alliance’s …

Syrian and Russian warplanes on Tuesday carried out a joint military drill amid increasing Israeli airstrikes, Syria’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. It was the first such exercise since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began more than three months ago. In mid-February, before the Russian invasion on February 24, the …

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met Wednesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Ankara in an effort to stave off a global food crisis by restarting Ukrainian grain exports along a sea corridor. The UN’s plan to do so was “reasonable,” Çavuşoğlu said, and the talks were fruitful, but …

Lead figures in the Assad regime’s Qatirji oil-smuggling network were among those sanctioned. Members of the Riyadh-based Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC), which includes the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, blacklisted 13 individuals and three organizations for financing terrorism on Monday. Among …

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham continues to restrict humanitarian organizations operating in its areas of control in northwestern Syria. Through its Salvation Government, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly known as al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, has been seeking to fully control the humanitarian aid that is being provided to the displaced in Idlib province …