Middle Orient

“They said they are going to stay in Syria and will not withdraw – they will keep fighting Islamic State,” Ahmed said. “Before they were unclear under Trump and during the Afghan withdrawal.” A leading Syrian Kurdish politician said on Thursday the United States will stay on in Syria to …

Three rounds of Saudi-Iranian talks were held in Iraq in the months before Iran’s new hardline president, Ebrahim Raisi, took office in August. Talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia have gone a “good distance,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told a news conference in Beirut on Thursday, referring to efforts …

Iran’s drone program, unlike its nuclear weapons program, is not secretive. The Islamic Republic openly brags about its drone capabilities. Iranian drones are an emerging threat to the Middle East. In 2019, Iran used a combination of drones and cruise missiles to attack the giant Abqaiq oil-processing facility in Saudi …

Iraq will head to the polls on Sunday for early legislative elections, the fifth in the past 20 years. The poll comes two years after mass protests brought down the government of Adel Abdul Mahdi, but not before security forces and paramilitary groups killed more than 600 protesters. Angry Iraqis …

Iran’s chief diplomat, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said his country will “not tolerate geopolitical change” in the region. Iran’s new foreign minister said Wednesday that Tehran has “serious concerns” about Israel’s actions in the Caucasus region. Iran’s chief diplomat Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the comments while in Moscow for talks with his Russian …

Iran’s posturing could further cement Baku’s defense ties with Israel. Azerbaijan is considering buying Israel’s Arrow-3 missile defense system amid tensions with Iran, according to Israel Hayom newspaper. The move would be a major step in typically quiet Israel-Azerbaijan defense ties. Tensions between the neighbors have flared in recent days …

The men partook in the 2014 attack by the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra on the Lebanese army in the town of Arsal, according to the Lebanese military. A Lebanese military court sentenced a group of Syrian Jabhat al-Nusra fighters to death Tuesday for the killing of Lebanese soldiers. The Permanent Military …

IDF chief of staff responds to Iran’s demand that Israel’s attacks on nuclear sites stop if UN wants full inspection access to resume. The Israeli military’s chief of staff said operations targeting Iran’s nuclear program will continue, rebuffing a demand by Tehran that they halt if the United States and …

Israel has warned Egyptian intelligence that Hamas operatives in the West Bank are fueling demonstrations and conducting lone-wolf operations there. Hamas operatives seem to have renewed their activity in the West Bank in response to Israeli raids in the wake of the recapturing of six Palestinians who escaped an Israeli …

For much of the Syrian civil war, the southern city of Deraa and the surrounding Houran Plains, an agricultural region near the Jordanian border, were divided between government forces and armed rebels. Fighting raged back and forth, killing thousands. It was not until Russia backed a government offensive in 2018 …