Middle Orient

Jihadis in Idlib believe that former al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham played a role in the killing of Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi during a US Special Forces operation in Idlib. The Feb. 3 US Special Forces operation that led to the death of Islamic State (IS) leader …

Australia will designate all of the Hamas organization, not just its military wing, as a terror group. “The views of Hamas and the violent extremist groups listed today are deeply disturbing, and there is no place in Australia for their hateful ideologies,” Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews announced on Thursday. …

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech Thursday that Iran needs atomic energy and is not pursuing nuclear weapons, as the nuclear talks with the world powers has reached its final stages. “We will sooner or later need peaceful nuclear energy. If we do not pursue …

The leader of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said for the first time on Wednesday that it has the ability within Lebanon to convert thousands of rockets into precision missiles and to produce drones. “We have been producing drones in Lebanon for a long time, and whoever wants to buy them, …

I’ve previously written concerning [Yemen, The War That Should Have Never Been And How To Achieve Peace: Countercurrents: 13/02/2022] the fact the War in Yemen should never have occurred in the first place and the what and how required to achieve peace; either by dividing Yemen in two, North and …

Turkey and Israel are not only seeking to repair their fractured bilateral relations, but see cooperation opportunities in Central Asia, said James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and Middle East Institute in Singapore.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is still insisting on false economic premises, including a theory that higher interest rates cause inflation; a policy stance that has led to sharp losses for the lira, said Güven Sak, a former member of the Monetary Policy Council of the Central Bank of Turkey. …

The High Price of Regional Dominance Few countries have maintained clearer or more consistent aspirations over the last four decades than the Islamic Republic of Iran. Since 1979, when Islamic revolutionaries transformed the country from an U.S.-allied monarchy into an ardently anti-American theocracy, Iran has sought to expel the United …

Hints of a greater presence of an IRGC-linked Iraqi armed faction with government-salaried brigades in a Sunni tribal-dominant province has sparked outcry, as the group continues to raise money for operations in other countries. The Iraqi armed faction Kataib Hezbollah (KH) has in recent weeks stepped up messaging and attacks …

Iranian Quds Force commander Esmail Ghaani is seeking to maintain unity among the Shiite political ranks before the formation of the new government, including a role for parties affiliated with Iran. The official website of Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Sadrist movement in Iraq, published Feb. 8 a brief statement …