Middle Orient

Iraq’s next parliamentary elections are scheduled for October 10, 2021. The Iraqi people will vote into office the 328 members of the Council of Representatives who, in turn, will elect Iraq’s president and prime minister. The present PM, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, was confirmed in post in May 2020, aware that elections …

The United States and its Syrian Kurdish allies control up to 90 percent of Syria’s oil-producing lands, depriving the war-torn country of its much-needed source of fuel and hard currency income. While Iran sends emergency fuel supplies to Syria to help deal with shortages, its ships have been regularly attacked …

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said Syrian civilians living under a government siege in the southwestern city are suffering from shortages of fuel, food and medicine. The United Nations’ special envoy for Syria on Thursday expressed concern over the “alarming situation” in Daraa, the birthplace of the Syrian …

With Lebanon falling apart after decades of Shi’ite domineering, the rest of Lebanon is smelling weakness yet again. Our future is as the Suez [Canal] of banking” a proud Lebanese finance minister Pierre Edde once told The New York Times. It was winter 1965, and the country that was still …

Lebanon is falling deeper into an economic and social black hole. While Hezbollah is not immune to that crisis, it is still able to play with fire and attack Israel. It’s been a week since rocket-warning sirens alerted Israelis to the dangers of the collapse of Lebanon: a salvo of …

The latest escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict brought important shifts in the status quo, underscoring the necessity of a political settlement. A peace based on equal respect for both peoples’ rights will take time, however. Steps to lower the temperature are urgent in the interim. What’s new? The Israeli-Palestinian conflict experienced …

Security forces in the countryside of Aleppo are combating the spread of narcotic substances, amid growing demands for cooperation by the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army factions. The use of narcotics is surging across the areas controlled by the armed Turkish-backed Syrian opposition in northwestern Syria. All efforts exerted by the …

Much of the Middle East is suffering from water scarcity issues amid extremely high temperatures in the summer. Residents protested a lack of water in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region on Wednesday, according to local media outlets. The demonstration came amid wider water access issues in the region. Dozens of people in …

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said Syrian civilians living under a government siege in the southwestern city are suffering from shortages of fuel, food and medicine. The United Nations’ special envoy for Syria on Thursday expressed concern over the “alarming situation” in Daraa, the birthplace of the Syrian …

Summary Irregular warfare (IW) is increasingly common in the 21st century and the U.S. must learn from its successful experiences with it and apply those lessons to great power competition. For the past two decades the CIA and Army Special Forces have demonstrated how to leverage interagency relationships and apply …