Middle Orient

A US-based group of doctors conducted a detailed assessment of the region’s health sector in both Kurdish and rebel territory. An American nonprofit organization has warned that health care in northern Syria is experiencing severe difficulties. The New York-based Physicians for Human Rights nonprofit released a report in December 2021 …

At least three people were killed on Thursday in a series of explosions including two suspected suicide bombings in northwest Syria near the Turkish border, witnesses said, in the first such attacks this year. A rescue worker said one civilian was killed after an improvised explosive device went off in …

Four rockets were fired at the fortified compound that houses the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, and suspicion fell on pro-Iran militias. Four rockets targeted the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Thursday night, the latest in a series of aerial attacks amid Iranian threats and political violence as Iraq’s factions struggle …

The Arab world is one of the most volatile regions in the world and plays a central role in global politics today. (1) With its great diversity of peoples, languages, and cultures, it is also home to the fastest-growing religion in the world: Islam. (2) Add to that immense socio-economic …

To borrow from that wiliest of ex-bishops turned statesmen, Charles de Talleyrand, George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq was worse than a crime: it was a mistake. Twenty years after 9/11, American military and foreign policy leaders are still struggling to resurrect something of the functionally stable balance of …

The Biden administration eased restrictions on aid groups working with the Syrian government in November. The United Nations has extended authorization to deliver aid from Turkey into Syria’s opposition-held Idlib province for another six months. Bab al-Hawa is the last Syrian border crossing authorized for direct aid deliveries into parts …

Mohammed al-Halbusi is Iraq’s speaker of parliament for a second term despite opposition from Shiite parties aligned with Iran. The first session of Iraq’s new parliament was held on Jan. 9. In that session, new parliament members voted that Mohammed al-Halbusi will serve a second term as speaker of the …

Negotiations to form a new government in Iraq have entered a final, decisive phase, with the process shaping up to be a dispiriting contest among several factions that unfortunately share broadly similar authoritarian characteristics. The disputes over power-sharing arrangements and government positions are complicated, and the final lineup is still …

The visit followed the Iranian foreign minister’s trip to Oman. Qatar and Iran’s top diplomats met in Doha today. Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani hosted his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian for an official visit. They discussed bilateral relations and unspecified “regional developments,” according to a statement from …

Iraq announced a similar incident late last year. Iraqi forces arrested several people who allegedly attempted to enter the country illegally via the Syrian border today. Iraq’s Security Media Cell said 62 “infiltrators” of Syrian nationality were arrested. The Iraqi border guard and the Kurdistan Region’s peshmerga forces conducted the …