Middle Orient

Erdoğan’s biggest political rival ahead of the 2023 presidential elections seems to be — poverty. The first decade of Erdoğan’s rule actually brought relative prosperity to Turks. Per capita GDP rose sharply from $3,688 in 2002 to $11,796 in 2012… Since 2013, however, reckless nepotism, increasing authoritarianism, corruption and economic …

Russia also carried out airstrikes in the eastern Deir ez-Zor province, where the Islamic State has been particularly active recently. Islamic State (IS) militants have attacked Syrian regime and Russian forces in Syria’s central and eastern desert regions. According to local news reports, an attack occurred in the area of …

A local Yazidi armed group linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party and affiliated with the government-incorporated Popular Mobilization Units has been targeted as part of stepped-up Turkish cross-border operations. Turkey has targeted members of a local Yazidi armed group linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq and …

Belarus has given Syrians two options: cross the border into Poland or be deported. The first flight bringing Syrian migrants home arrived from Belarus Dec. 8, raising concerns about their fate in light of information that some of them were investigated at Damascus International Airport. According to reports, the Syrian …

Commanders of confronting armed forces in Libya held a meeting on Saturday in the city of Sirte and agreed on uniting militaries, acting Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Abdulrazzak al-Nazuri said. The meeting between al-Nazuri and his counterpart from the rival forces, Chief of General Staff of the …

Syrian Kurdish-led forces said Monday their ant-terrorism unit, with U.S.-led coalition support, killed five suspected Islamic State group fighters in a raid to break up a militant cell in Syria’s east. The Syrian Democratic Forces unit carried out the joint operation with the international coalition near Busayrah, a village in …

Many people, even politicians, do not understand the Iranian regime’s bizarre actions in relation to their nuclear ambitions or other areas. In my opinion, the main reason is there is no sociological or political analysis of a significant event. That event took place in Iran in 2019 with the uprising …

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is pressed by a collapsing national currency, falling domestic popularity, and regional competition. Erdogan’s fiscal policies have arguably worsened the domestic economic situation Opponents of Erdogan might defeat him in the next election, particularly if Turkey’s economic problems continue to linger and potentially worsen. Turkey’s …

Iran’s SCO membership is the country’s first experience in joining a regional organization with a defense-security nature and function since its withdrawal from CENTO in 1979. Twenty-six years after Iran’s Islamic Revolution and withdrawal from the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) in 1979, and four years after the formation of the …

Sun Tzu, the pioneer of Chinese military thought and author of the famed treatise ‘The Art of War’, has influenced China’s strategy. With the objective of weakening the enemy, Sun Tzu propagated several measures to ensure the outcome of any conflict would be predetermined. “Ultimate excellence lies, not in winning …