Middle Orient

Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shia cleric whose Mahdi Army followers battled U.S. forces during the years of the occupation, made big gains in Iraq’s parliamentary election on October 10. His victory could pose problems for the United States and Iran. But despite the Sadrist List’s electoral success, it is not a …

The exercise was held at a time of intensifying hostile rhetoric between Tehran and Baku, as Russia continues its cautious position in between. The air force of the Iranian army launched a major drill on Oct. 21 involving several bases nationwide, the latest in a series of muscle-flexing gestures by …

The meeting in Sochi between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Russian President Vladimir Putin covered a large range of strategic and economic issues, focusing on Israeli concerns over Iranian military entrenchment in Syria and the Iran nuclear talks. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met today, Oct. 22, in Sochi with Russian …

The timing and extent of the anticipated operation against Syrian Kurdish forces are still uncertain and will likely depend on Ankara’s weighing of tradeoffs with Washington and Moscow. Following a spate of rocket attacks in areas of northern Syria under the control of Turkish-backed groups, Ankara is telling its Syrian …

A military outpost in southern Syria was hit by a coordinated attack on Wednesday, but U.S. officials said no American troops stationed there were injured or killed. Initial reports said the attack appeared to include two drone strikes and a small number of rockets. One official said one of the …

The United States military base at Al-Tanf in Syria was targeted with a “deliberate and coordinated” on Wednesday at approximately 7 p.m., according to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). The base was hit by drones and indirect mortar and rocket fire. There were no casualties among the U.S. troops stationed …

Two former German soldiers have been arrested on suspicion of trying to form a terrorist mercenary force to fight in Yemen’s civil war, prosecutors say. Arend-Adolf G and Achim A face terrorism charges after police raids in southern Germany on Wednesday. They allegedly planned to recruit up to 150 men …

Abstract: Iran-backed militias have been scrambling to recover after the loss of their patriarchs Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis on January 3, 2020. Attempts to preserve a top-down, Iran-directed system of command have met resistance, both from independent-minded upstarts like Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq and the fragmenting powerbases within Kata’ib …

The Saudi-led coalition also said it struck military targets in the capital Sanaa related to drone attacks on the kingdom. Houthi authorities in Yemen reported several deaths on Thursday in the fight with Saudi forces. Two Yemeni citizens were killed by Saudi gunfire in Saada governorate near the border with …

Protests erupted in Idlib against the Syrian Salvation Government, affiliated with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, amid high inflation and deteriorating living conditions. Protests have occurred in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib in recent days against the so-called Syrian Salvation Government (SSG), which is affiliated with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). HTS controls …