The Iraqi Air Force killed three suspected ISIS militants in an airstrike on the country’s western Anbar province, the military’s Security Media Cell announced on Thursday. The strike killed three suspected ISIS members hiding in a tunnel believed to have served as a “hostel” for the group in Wadi Ashwa …
Read More »Hezbollah weapons at the heart of Lebanon’s elections Sunday
It was a sea of yellow as thousands of men, women and children waving Hezbollah flags and wearing the group’s trademark yellow caps rallied on a giant plot of land in the ancient eastern city of Baalbek in support of the heavily armed militant group. One after another, many attendees …
Read More »Turkey objects as Sweden, Finland seek NATO membership
Turkey´s president on Monday complicated Sweden and Finland´s historic bid to join NATO, saying he cannot allow them to become members of the alliance because of their perceived inaction against exiled Kurdish militants. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan doubled down on comments last week indicating that the two Nordic countries´ path …
Read More »Turkey objects as Sweden, Finland seek NATO membership
Turkey´s president on Monday complicated Sweden and Finland´s historic bid to join NATO, saying he cannot allow them to become members of the alliance because of their perceived inaction against exiled Kurdish militants. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan doubled down on comments last week indicating that the two Nordic countries´ path …
Read More »Finland and Sweden Officially Confirm Historic NATO Bid, Turkey Opposes
Sweden and Finland have proclaimed their intent to join NATO in the backdrop of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war in Europe. The move, which is a drastic deviation from decades of military non-alignment between both countries, deals another blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin as his country struggles with the repercussions …
Read More »Rising oil prices buy Iran time in nuclear talks, officials say
Emboldened by an oil price surge since Russia invaded Ukraine, Iran’s clerical rulers are in no rush to revive a 2015 nuclear pact with world powers to ease sanctions on its energy-reliant economy, three officials familiar with Tehran’s thinking said.
Read More »Israel-Iran: Could The Proxy War Ignite? – OpEd
On Wednesday April 27, 2022, according to Syria’s defense ministry backed by the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Israel launched a missile attack on positions near Damascus killing four Syrian soldiers. The Syrian state news agency claimed the missiles had been launched from Tiberias in north-eastern Israel. According …
Read More »Syria: Ruling over Aleppo’s Ruins
Aleppo was devastated by bombing and shelling during the Syrian war. It remains unsafe, with residents subject to shakedowns by the regime’s security forces and various militias. Damascus and its outside backers should curb this predation as a crucial first step toward the city’s recovery. What’s new? Almost six years after …
Read More »Turkey’s leader opposes letting Finland, Sweden join NATO
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that his country is “not favorable” toward Finland and Sweden joining NATO, indicating Turkey could use its membership in the Western military alliance to veto moves to admit the two countries. “We are following developments concerning Sweden and Finland, but we are not …
Read More »Europe’s role in Gulf maritime security
In February 2022, the Council of the European Union (E.U.) gathered in Brussels to discuss the extension of the Coordinated Maritime Presence (CMP) concept to the North-Western Indian Ocean. First piloted in the Gulf of Guinea at the beginning of 2021, the CMP is a flexible tool to enhance maritime …
Read More »