Middle Orient

Here’s what you need to know about Ebrahim Raisi, the conservative cleric seen as the heavy favorite to replace outgoing President Hassan Rouhani. Ebrahim Raisi, the hard-line Iranian judiciary chief known for his role in the mass execution of thousands of prisoners in the late 1980s, is heavily favored to …

The forthcoming Erdogan-Biden meeting on June 14 comes at a time when Erdogan is experiencing his weakest term in his very long reign. For a long period of time, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan looked mighty, especially from within Turkey. He was charismatic, a great orator, a shrewd tactician, imposing …

The Hisbah (ISIS’ religious police) has reappeared on the ground in Deir-ez-Zor, unleashing chaos in many villages and towns of the areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeastern Syria. The organization’s members affiliated with the “Hisbah Apparatus” demanded all residents of the eastern Deir-ez-Zor countryside not to …

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria said that their representatives alongside others from the Democratic Union Party (PYD) were arrested by the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) forces in Erbil, Northern Iraq. On Thursday, the Autonomous Administration published a statement, adding that the arrests of their representatives, alongside the …

Danish media sources revealed that the country’s last cabinet, headed by Mette Frederiksen, provided the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) with data regarding visits by thousands of refugees to Syria through the Copenhagen airport. This data is part of the government’s justification for its decisions to freeze the …

Zaman Al-Wasl has obtained military data and statistics revealing the extreme magnitude of sectarianism in the Syrian army, and how a group of Bashar al-Assad protégés exclusively control the highest positions and ranks in the army. Most of the Army’s top officers are originally from Assad’s heartland, in the Alawite-majority …

The resurgence of the terrorist group in the Syrian desert puts the region again at the forefront of the conflict, according to Baladi News. The Syrian Badia (desert) reclaimed its position at the forefront of hostilities in Syria following the recent return of activities by ISIS’ cells and increased military …

The spokesman of Tahrir al-Sham, Abu Khaled al-Shami, and two other fighters were reportedly killed by Russian bombardments, according to Al-Etihad Press. On Thursday, news reports said that the spokesman of the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (Al-Nusra) was killed in a missile strike targeting several areas of the Idleb governorate, controlled …

During Rouhani’s tenure, thousands of people were executed, including women and children. In its 2019 global review of the death penalty, Amnesty International stated: “Iran retained its place as the world’s second-most prolific executioner after China.” In total, according to official estimates of the Iranian regime, more than 4,000 people …

Attacks by Iraqi militia, backed by Iran, on protesters and activists are destabilizing Iraq in the run-up to October 2021 national elections. The government of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi is attempting to marginalize the Iran-backed militias, but only enjoying mixed success. The militias suppress any challenge to their autonomy, their …