Middle Orient

No. 14 on The Jerusalem Post’s Top 50 Most Influential Jews of 2021: IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi and Mossad chief David Barnea. It’s been a busy two years for Israel’s top security officials, Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi and new Mossad chief David Barnea, fighting a war they never …

No one in the Iranian government was sad to see U.S. and NATO troops leave Afghanistan. In fact, Tehran would prefer to have the Taliban next-door than often-hostile Western powers. But Shiite-majority Iran has also been a target of attacks in the past from the Sunni Islamist Taliban, and it …

As crises continue to unfold in Lebanon, the inaction and silence of decision-makers goes beyond the limit, raising red flags over the purpose of such a behavior and whether such governance stems from ignorance, poor management, and thirst for power, or perhaps an orchestrated plan aiming to dissolve the state …

The American withdrawal from military intervention in Afghanistan continues a broader American as well as European disengagement from the Middle East. Greater US energy independence and a shift on the part of Europe to Russian oil, fatigue among Americans over their “endless wars” in the region, and a perceived need …

Prime Minister of Iraq Mustafa al-Kadhimi will pay an official visit to Iran on September 12. Heading a high-ranking political and economic delegation, the Iraqi prime minister will arrive in Tehran on Sunday morning for talks with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, among others. The Iraqi leader is going to hold …

Aliyah and Integration Minister Tamano-Shata also hopes to bring 3,000 of those remaining in Ethiopia to Israel by the end of 2022, as part of the “Rock of Israel” operation she initiated last year. The government approved on Sunday a NIS 156 million budget aimed at creating equal opportunities, combatting …

The former spy chiefs expressed a wide range of views on the impacts of the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan on global security issues. The US will not be able to leave the Middle East even if this is the stated goal of the Biden administration, because Middle East events …

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman dismissed the Kingdom’s director of public security and referred him for public investigation according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). The dismissal of Khalid bin Qarrar Al Harbi comes as part of a royal decree that also includes the sacking of 19 other officials that were …

Potential Armenia-Turkey rapprochement could have a major influence on South Caucasus geopolitics. The opening of the border would allow Turkey to have a better connection with Azerbaijan beyond the link it already has with the Nakhchivan exclave. Moscow will not be entirely happy with the development as it would allow …

Twenty years after 9/11, the lessons of that day are still inconclusive. It was traumatizing for a generation. It was just after midnight when two Border Police officers on guard duty at a base near Kibbutz Bahan in central Israel were fired upon. According to the Foreign Ministry’s subsequent report, …