Middle Orient

Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, head of US Central Command, on Monday warned about Iran’s destabilizing activities and the roles of Russia and China in the Middle East. During a special briefing, he spoke about his visit to Iraq and Syria and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. “Another priority is deterring Iran’s …

Dozens of displaced people in rebel-held northwest Syria on Tuesday protested efforts by Damascus and its allies to end humanitarian aid crossing from Turkey into the impoverished war-ravaged enclave. The U.N. Security Council mandate for humanitarian aid deliveries, now reduced from four initial international crossing points to a single border …

Syria also reported Israeli airstrikes on a factory on the west coast last month. Syria has reported new Israeli airstrikes in the country. The official SANA news outlet said that Syrian air defense responded to missiles from the “Israeli enemy.” The strikes targeted unspecified locations in central and southern Syria …

Syrian military officials early Wednesday morning blamed Israel for another nightly airstrike near the capital Damascus, claiming air defense batteries succeeded in intercepting Israel’s “aggression coming from Lebanese airspace.” While Jerusalem did not comment on the reports, Syrian opposition forces said the attacks targeted Iranian militia bases, spread out across …

Israel’s Security Cabinet on Tuesday decided to postpone to next week the highly controversial Flag March scheduled for Thursday. The march, organized by right-wing and religious groups, was planned to pass through volatile Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, including the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, and was determined by …

Islamic State cells in the areas under the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army in the countryside of Aleppo have escalated operations following the killing of a senior IS official and his colleague during a raid on their hideout in the city of al-Bab. Areas are controlled by the Turkish-backed Free Syrian …

The US secretary of state told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that there are ‘areas where we can get even stronger commitments from Iran.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the Biden administration’s Iran nuclear deal strategy before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday. US President Joe Biden’s …

The appearance of Turkish artificial intelligence-controlled drones in Libyan skies has rekindled questions on how lethal autonomous weapons will affect regional geopolitics and whether they should be banned. Turkey’s flourishing drone industry is back in the international spotlight following a UN report suggesting that Turkish-made artificial intelligence-based drones might have …

The United States on Tuesday warned Iran not to mess with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s monitoring of its nuclear facilities, warning that such intervention would jeopardize negotiations currently being held in Vienna over a return to the 2015 nuclear deal. If Tehran were to “prevent the collection of or …

En 2005, le retrait de Gaza et l’espoir d’un règlement pacifique du conflit israélo-palestinien qu’il a suscité ont permis pour la dernière fois à une majorité modérée d’arriver au pouvoir en Israël. Mais la prise du pouvoir par le parti islamiste à Gaza a transformé ce territoire en usine de …