Middle Orient

Expressing their support of the assailant who killed an Israeli and wounded four others in the alleys of Jerusalem’s Old City, residents of the East Jerusalem Shuafat refugee camp clashed with Israeli security forces. Hundreds of Palestinians marched Nov. 21 through the East Jerusalem Shuafat refugee camp in support of …

America’s allies and partners in the Middle East and elsewhere share deep concerns about the Iranian government’s destabilizing actions — including its support for terrorism, its dangerous proxies and its nuclear program, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said. The secretary delivered a major policy speech on the Middle …

French President Emmanuel Macron has clearly decided to up the ante in a standoff with Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean, where France is backing Greece and Cyprus in their dispute with Ankara over natural gas reserves and maritime boundaries. First, Macron ordered a temporary reinforcement of French aerial and naval …

Informed sources revealed that Iranian militias emptied the T4 military airport in the eastern countryside of Homs, and transported its equipment to the Shayrat airbase in the south of the governorate (in the center of the country). Ain al-Furat (Eye of the Euphrates, anti-regime, editor’s note) quoted unnamed sources saying …

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 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s threat to expel 10 Western ambassadors has been withdrawn: Turkey though is still experiencing a continuous human rights crisis.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 …