Middle Orient

The presidents of Iran and Russia weighed plans to finalize a comprehensive agreement on long-term cooperation and broaden the regional and international collaboration between the two countries. In a telephone conversation on Tuesday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin highlighted the common stances of Tehran and …

There are some countries where a single predicament highlights what is wrong with their internal and foreign affairs. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s threat to expel 10 Western ambassadors has been withdrawn: Turkey though is still experiencing a continuous human rights crisis. The joint statement by the ambassadors of the …

Just in case there were any doubts, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu demonstrated with his visit to Lebanon this week that improved relations between Middle Eastern rivals would not bury hatchets. On the contrary, improved relations shifts the battlefield away from potential armed conflict, allowing rivals to compete while enjoying …

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said on November 20 they had seized a boat in the Persian Gulf for allegedly smuggling diesel. “A foreign ship, carrying smuggled diesel was seized,” Iranian media quoted Colonel Ahmad Hajian, commander of the Naval Type 412 Zulfaqar in the southern Parsian county, as …

Iran believes Israel is under a wider threat than in the past, and brags it could unite Gaza and the “northern front” against Israel. It believes that the West Bank could “explode at any moment.” Iran, in its usual bluster, is claiming Israel is afraid of a conflict with its …

The UAE foreign minister recently met with Bashar Assad, and the region now sees Syria as possibly being welcomed back into the fold by the Gulf states, Egypt and some other countries. Israel has been closely watching changes in the region and Syria may be a key to understanding some …

Hamas is perceived as having initiated the war to stop the Sheikh Jarrah evictions and force Israel to rescind its strict security measures in Jerusalem’s Old City and the all-Aqsa Mosque compound. If there’s one thing that many Israelis and Palestinians agree on, it’s that Hamas enjoys widespread support among …

What is clear is that he was affiliated with Hamas and regularly expressed views similar to those of the Gaza-based group. Those who knew Sheikh Fadi Abu Shkhaydam were not surprised to hear that he was the terrorist who carried out the shooting attack in the Old City of Jerusalem …

Cymbals, prayers and Chaldean Catholic liturgy resounded in Mosul’s Saint George Monastery on Friday as Iraqi faithful marked the restoration of two churches destroyed by ISIS during their occupation of the city. Dozens gathered in one of the monastery’s churches that have been rebuilt in stone six years after the …

Aleppo province: Syrian Observatory activists have reported that Turkish forces renewed artillery attacks on areas under the control of Kurdish and regime forces in the northern countryside of Aleppo, as they targeted the surrounding areas of al-Ouda camp, which accommodated displaced people from Afrin, nearby al-Ziyyarah village in the northern …