Middle Orient

The Sudanese military has arrested civilians in the transitional government and seized power. Turkey and Qatar both called for de-escalation in Sudan Monday following a coup in the African country. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a press release, “We are deeply concerned with the news regarding the coup attempt …

Turkey’s withdrawal of a limited number of Syrian militia from Libya is aiming to sidestep potential accusations of spoiling the election process in the war-torn nation as December elections near. Turkey has withdrawn a limited number of Syrian mercenaries from Libya over the past weeks, but the problem of foreign …

After threatening to expel 10 foreign envoys, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Monday appeared to de-escalate a diplomatic row sparked by the ongoing imprisonment of Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala. A tense diplomatic crisis in which 10 ambassadors to Turkey faced possible expulsion from the country appears to have been defused …

Former Saudi Arabian intelligence officer Saad al-Jabri said in an interview with the CBS News program 60 Minutes that Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), currently the Saudi crown prince, spoke in 2014 about the idea of killing the sitting monarch at the time, King Abdullah, to pave the way for Abdullah’s …

A former senior Saudi security official who helped oversee joint counter-terrorism efforts with the United States claimed in an interview with “60 Minutes” that the kingdom’s crown prince once spoke of killing a sitting Saudi monarch before his own father was crowned king. Saad al-Jabri did not provide evidence to …

While concerns of a terrorist resurgence in Afghanistan are front and center, we need to remember that there are thousands of ISIS fighters waging a low-level insurgency in Iraq and Syria. Containing that threat is critical, and doing so over the long term requires an international relations moonshot: creating an …

Turkey has threatened to launch a military operation against the SDF in the wake of attacks carried out by the latter in north Syria. Turkey has threatened to launch a military operation against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has recently stepped up its attacks in the areas controlled …

Iran is working on controlling and infiltrating the Syrian community by supporting local leaders affiliated with it, forming tribal councils and appointing new sheikhs from small clans and families to spread Shiism in its areas of control in east Syria. Since the beginning of 2021, Iran has begun working on …

A US airstrike in northwest Syria on Saturday killed senior al-Qaeda leader Abdul Hamid al-Matar, according to a United States Central Command (CENTCOM) press release. “We have no indications of civilian casualties as a result of the strike, which was conducted using an MQ-9 aircraft,” U.S. Army Maj. John Rigsbee, …

Iraqis went to the polls on Oct. 10 to elect the 329 members of a new parliament, in what is considered one of the most crucial elections since the US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003. Iraq historically has been the focal point of Turkey’s regional politics due …