Iran’s future should not be dependent on the success or failure of negotiations to revive the nuclear agreement with the world powers, the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told senior officials on Tuesday, according to state television. Khamenei said that the negotiations, reported to be stalled for the last …
Read More »Gaza Factions Say Are Ready to Defend Al-Aqsa Mosque Against Any Israeli Action
A Hamas sources says the factions in Gaza — and particularly Hamas — do not intend to fire rockets at Israel at this point, but rather wait to see how things evolve on the ground Palestinian factions in Gaza said Wednesday that they are prepared to respond to any Israeli …
Read More »Possible closure of Turkey-Syria crossing alarms aid groups
Fears are mounting about a looming humanitarian catastrophe amid concerns that Russia will close the last border crossing through which UN and NGO aid passes to reach millions of needy in north Syria. The Syrian Response Coordination Group (RCG), an Idlib-based humanitarian nongovernmental organization assisting the displaced in northwestern Syria, …
Read More »Erdogan’s statements shake Tunisian-Turkish ties
Diplomatic and economic relations between Tunisia and Turkey are at stake in the wake of statements by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following President Kais Saied’s decision to dissolve parliament. Tunisia’s President Kais Saied has recently rejected any foreign interference in his country’s internal affairs. Speaking at an April 6 …
Read More »Iraq’s political deadlock: three scenarios
Iraq’s new parliament has failed to form a government and the political scene is stuck in a difficult deadlock, indicating that the crisis is likely to continue for a long time. About six months after Iraq’s parliamentary elections, the new government has yet to be formed. What are the possible …
Read More »Opinion: Biden won’t remove Iran’s Revolutionary Guard from terror list. He’s right.
The Biden administration plans to reject an Iranian demand that the United States lift its designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization as a condition for renewing the 2015 nuclear agreement — putting completion of the deal in jeopardy. A senior administration official told me that …
Read More »Iraq official warns of jihadist threat from Syria camp
The Al-Hol camp for displaced people in Syria is a jihadist threat and should be dismantled, a senior Iraqi security official said on Saturday. Al-Hol, in the Kurdish-controlled northeast, is Syria’s largest camp for displaced people. It houses about 56,000 including displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees, some of whom maintain …
Read More »Iraqi airstrikes killed 70 ISIS members in past three months
Iraqi airstrikes killed at least 70 ISIS militants over the past three months, according to a top security official. Even though Iraq carries out regular airstrikes and operations against ISIS militants, the group still “pose a threat” in northern, eastern, and western provinces, including Diyala, Kirkuk, southwest Nineveh, Anbar, and …
Read More »Hamas stops Islamic Jihad from military escalation with Israel in Gaza
Hamas and Islamic Jihad are coordinating policies and activities, stepping up attacks in the West Bank while trying to avoid direct confrontation in Gaza. Hamas has made concerted efforts to contain the anger of the Islamic Jihad movement in the Gaza Strip, and to prevent it from engaging in a …
Read More »Turkey successfully battles multiple terrorist groups: Soylu
There is no other country in the world other than Turkey that is fighting so many global terrorist organizations at the same time, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said Sunday. In his speech at the iftar dinner held on the occasion of the 177th anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish …
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