Middle Orient

Populist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is seeking to close the deal among Iraq’s Shiite parties. The United Nation special representative in Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, met today, Dec. 7, with the Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr, whose party won the largest numbers of seats in the recent parliamentary elections. The UN is trying …

Ali Bagheri Kani may wait for the other side to bring “something to the table” now. It’s a deja vu moment in Vienna, where talks between Iran and world powers have resumed to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement. Aside from the lockdown, the freezing temperatures, the new faces, and a …

Israeli politicians and media intentionally exaggerate the ‘threat’ posed by the Gaza protesters to Israel’s security. A large Israeli army campaign is taking social media by storm. The unstated aim of what is known as the “#Untie_Our_Hands” initiative is the desire to kill, with no accountability, more Palestinian protesters at …

Lawyers have accused Turkish authorities of unjustly detaining people for alleged Revolutionary Peoples’ Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) links. Turkish police conducted raids targeting a far-left armed group today. Police detained 25 individuals for alleged ties to the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) in Istanbul, Ankara and other parts of the country. …

A recent string of attacks on Iraq’s Kurdistan Region peshmerga forces have raised concern over how effective long-discussed coordination with the central government is in the country’s flashpoint disputed territories. Peshmerga forces operating in territory disputed between the central government and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) have in recent …

Moscow is likely to welcome a Turkish mediation effort if it serves to restrain Ukraine from a military adventure. Turkey has offered to mediate in the Ukraine crisis as tensions between NATO and Russia escalate, with fears that Russia might be gearing up to invade eastern Ukraine. The proposal from …

At least four people were killed and some 20 injured in an explosion near a major city hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. The attack on Tuesday, which seriously damaged a minibus, was carried out with an explosives-laden motorcycle, according to the Iraqi military. While there has not …

Syrian state media accused Israel of launching a missile attack on its port of Latakia. The missile attack early on Tuesday morning caused a fire in a container storage area that later was put out, causing extensive damage. Five explosions were heard in the port, according to reports, that caused …

The United States has signalled in advance of next week’s Summit for Democracy that it is unlikely to translate lip service to adherence to human rights and democratic values in the Middle East into a policy that demonstrates seriousness and commitment. In a statement, the State Department said the December …

Turkey is reportedly seeking to increase the foreign currency reserves possessed by its central bank, in a currency swap agreement with the United Arab Emirates that could amount to at least $5 billion. According to the London-based news outlet Middle East Eye, which cited an anonymous senior Turkish official, Ankara …