Middle Orient

President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey still intended to buy a second batch of S-400 missile defense systems from Russia, a move that could deepen a rift with NATO ally Washington and trigger new U.S. sanctions, Reuters reported. According to the report Washington says the S-400s pose a threat to its …

A delegation of Palestinian clerics from Gaza, South Lebanon and Syria has been visiting Iraq in the recent days to attend the “Call of Al-Aqsa Procession”, organized by the Iraqi “Call of Al-Aqsa” (Nida Al-Aqsa) organization. The procession is held as part of the “Arba’een Pligrimage” march from Najaf to …

On September 24, 2021, some 300 Iraqi notables, both Sunnis and Shi’ites, held a conference in Erbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, calling for Iraq to join the Abraham Accords and establish diplomatic ties with Israel. They also called to abolish the law criminalizing contacts between Iraqi and Israeli citizens. The …

Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem warned on Friday evening that any attack by Israel on Lebanon will be met with a response, and that its weapons are ‘locked and loaded.’ Any attack by Israel on Lebanon will be met with a response from Hezbollah, Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said …

At Erbil conference, participants also urge rebuilding ties with the country’s dispossessed Jewish diaspora; normalization remains a crime under Iraqi law In an unprecedented plea for regional reconciliation, over 300 prominent Iraqis called for their country to normalize ties with Israel on Friday night. “We demand full diplomatic relations with …

‘The Palestinian people are in need of this money, especially our great people under siege in Gaza,’ top Abbas adviser says The Palestinian Authority has called on Sudan’s government to hand over assets that it seized from Hamas as part of a recent crackdown on the terror group. Hussein al-Sheikh, …

2 soldiers wounded during overnight clashes likely hit by friendly fire; IDF chief says raids prevented ‘significant terror attacks’ within Israel Members of a Hamas cell that was targeted in a series of raids on Sunday night and Monday morning are likely still on the loose, though the Israel Defense …

The Syrian city of Daraa is frequently dubbed “the cradle of the revolution” because it witnessed the first protests against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011. After the unrest turned to armed revolt and the rebels were later defeated there in 2018, they struck a deal unlike any other in Syria: …

September 2021 marks the sixth anniversary of the Russian Federation’s intervention in the Syrian civil war. A patient, flexible strategy set against irresolute and muddled Western strategies allowed Moscow to achieve its initial aim of preventing the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime. The Kremlin also re-established itself as …

Turkey has deployed more troops to northwestern Syria as a deterrent against any major offensive by Russian-backed Syrian forces, ahead of a meeting between the Turkish and Russian leaders next week. Ankara is concerned that an escalation in Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in northwest Syria, would push a new …