Middle Orient

Acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani defended Iran’s impending retaliatory strike against Israel while signaling that Iran seeks to avoid a regional war during an Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on August 7.[i] Bagheri Kani argued that Iran “has no choice” but to exercise its …

Islamic religious leaders, politicians, and jihadi organizations in Afghanistan and Pakistan have reacted strongly to the July 31 assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, offering condolences, calling it a terrorist act, and accusing Israel and America of violating international law and eliminating their opponents. Islamic religious leaders from …

Following the July 31, 2024 assassination of Hamas political bureau head Isma’il Haniyeh, the Qatari government press, and especially the Al-Sharq daily, published many articles that praised him and glorified resistance, martyrdom, and jihad against Israel, while stressing that Haniyeh’s path of resistance is “the right path that must be …

Latest Developments The Secretary of Russia’s National Security Council, Sergei Shoigu, reportedly conveyed a personal message from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Iranian leaders while he was in Tehran on August 5. The message urged the regime to refrain from taking military action against Israel. According to an unnamed Iranian …

Latest Developments The United States charged a Pakistani national with a thwarted Iran-backed plot to assassinate American government officials, the U.S. Justice Department disclosed on August 6. The defendant, 46-year-old Asif Merchant, had hired purported hitmen who were actually undercover U.S. law enforcement officers, according to the U.S. complaint unsealed …

Latest Developments Five U.S. service members and two U.S. contractors were injured in a rocket attack by Iran-backed terrorists in Iraq on August 5, according to U.S. defense officials who briefed The Washington Post. Two Iraqi security officials told Reuters that the injuries were caused by two rockets that fell …

Iranian armed forces-run Defa Press published a list of potential civilian and military targets in Israel on August 5, which likely aims to decrease Israel’s ability to effectively defend against an Iranian attack by causing Israel to air- and missile-defense assets and creating panic among civilians.[1] The list includes Israeli …

During the past week, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for 43 attacks on military and civilian targets in northern Israel, including communities attacked for the first time since the beginning of the war. A civilian was killed; an officer and an IDF soldier were injured.Israeli Air Force aircraft attacked Hezbollah targets and …

When U.S. Patriots shot down an Iranian missile over Erbil on April 15, Kurds wondered why such defenses weren’t activated when they were attacked. Late in the night of April 13, Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, was shaken by the sound of a Patriot missile battery shooting down …

The surprising and evolving intersections between the Jewish state and Islamic institutions. Introduction The term “Israeli Islam” may sound like an oxymoron, but Islam is present in Israeli society—and inside the Israeli state. Just under one-fifth of Israelis are registered by the state as Muslims; Muhammad has been the most …