Middle Orient

Hamas-affiliated police forces assaulted students wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh on the Al-Azhar University campus in the Gaza Strip, causing uproar among the Fatah movement. Hamas-affiliated security forces attacked Sept. 21 several students and university staff wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh at Al-Azhar University in the Gaza Strip. The university’s administration as …

Russian jets shelled a camp for the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army in Afrin, north of Aleppo, and intensified its airstrikes against the areas controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in Idlib ahead of the meeting between the Turkish and Russian presidents on Sept. 29. Sources affiliated with the Syrian opposition’s so-called …

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which controls Idlib, is refusing to sit down with al-Qaeda-affiliated Hurras al-Din leaders to resolve pending disputes. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which controls Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, is refusing calls from al-Qaeda-affiliated Hurras al-Din (Guardians of Religion Organization) to resolve their differences through Sharia arbitration. “A …

Iraqi Sunnis are weighing whether to vote for candidates on a tribal or party-linked basis, try for independents or maybe not even vote at all. Baghdad streets were teeming by early September with billboards and posters bearing candidates’ faces and the numbers they will be associated with on ballots to …

The UAE deputy foreign minister’s address to the United Nations stirred up the territorial dispute, which has long been at the very core of tensions between the Arab state and the Islamic Republic. “The three islands are inseparable swaths of Iranian territory and any claim on them is vehemently rejected,” …

Top generals in charge of Turkey’s military operations in Syria have sought retirement amid escalating tensions in Idlib, fueling questions over Ankara’s Syria policies. Turkey was rattled last week by reports that five generals serving on Syria-related missions were seeking to resign, including the head of a command center in …

To win the next election, Erdogan must change the election laws but also find more popular political allies. His AKP party’s current coalition with the ultra-nationalists is becoming a liability for his goal of re-election in 2023. Since the last elections in 2019, two debates have dominated the Turkish political …

Erdogan’s failure to achieve his goals in the high-profile meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin shows that Turkey’s balancing act with Russia and the United States is on the verge of a collapse. Having been trapped in its balancing act between Russia and the United States, Turkish diplomacy is trying …

U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, had a detailed discussion about the war in Yemen on Tuesday in a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a senior administration official said. The war, in which a Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Houthis, has devastated Yemen’s …

Jordan fully reopened its main border crossing with Syria on Wednesday, the first time that the Jaber border crossing has been fully open since the start of Syria’s decadelong civil war. Arab states had cut ties with Syria during its civil war, The crossing was partially opened in 2018 after …