Middle Orient

On August 25, 2024, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for firing 340 rockets at air defense facilities in northern Israel and launching a large number of UAVs at IDF bases in retaliation to the killing of Fuad Shukr, the organization’s military commander. Earlier, the Israeli Air Force carried out a pre-emptive strike …

The Iranian president’s ability to implement his electoral program remains limited, given what his previous reformist presidents have achieved, as none of them were able to bring about fundamental changes in Iran’s domestic and foreign policies. Pezeshkian’s presidential program is likely to strongly confront the conservatives who have controlled parliament …

The new Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, spoke with a senior Hamas figure andstressed that Iran would support any agreement to end the war in the Gaza Strip that would beacceptable to the Palestinians and the “resistance.” E_187_24Download

Over the past few years, Iran has been increasingly exerting its influence in the Middle East, particularly on Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen. How real is Iran’s influence? After the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya in Tehran, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the commander of the …

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the country’s parliament on August 25 that initiatives to revive relations with Turkey had not yielded “any results worth mentioning despite the seriousness and genuine keenness of mediators.” This declaration comes after both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Assad signaled that they were interested …

Noa Argamani, an Israeli woman who was held captive in the Gaza Strip for eight months, has denied reports that she was tortured. Israeli media had reported that she was tortured during her captivity in Gaza, citing her statements. After the news quickly spread, Argamani refuted these claims on her …

The Hamas delegation, which left the negotiations in Cairo, emphasized that they are solely interested in implementing the proposal by U.S. President Joe Biden regarding a hostage agreement and a ceasefire in Gaza, which was agreed upon on July 2nd. Hamas demanded that Israel be held accountable to the terms …

In addition to the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, Israel still holds the bodies of 552 individuals, of which 256 are in a secret cemetery known as the “Graveyard of Numbers,” and 296 are in refrigerated morgues, according to Palestinian institutions. A delegation of Palestinian prisoners …

CTP-ISW continues to assess that an Iranian drone and missile strike targeting Israel is the most likely Iranian course of action. The Pentagon spokesperson reported on August 26 that the United States assesses there is still a threat of strikes against Israel from Iran or its Axis of Resistance based …

Latest Developments Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, reported on August 23 that it blocked a small cluster of WhatsApp accounts used by Iranian cyber-attackers to target officials associated with the administrations of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Meta’s investigation revealed that hackers with APT42 — …