Middle Orient

Both sides are NATO members and came close to armed conflict last year but have been trying to lower tensions since. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will meet at this month’s NATO summit as both sides pledge to smooth their differences. The two rivals …

While Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi met in Cairo with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Tel Aviv with Egyptian intelligence service head Abbas Kamel. Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi arrived in Cairo May 30 for talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry. It is the …

The Hamas movement seems divided as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hosted a delegation of Palestinian factions leaders and praised all resistance factions, after years of estrangement with Hamas. In the midst of the Israeli bombing campaign against the Gaza Strip, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hosted in Damascus on May 20 …

Syrian tribal leaders based in Turkey are calling out Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces over the killing of young tribesmen at the hands of the SDF in demonstrations against the increase of fuel prices. Major Arab tribes in northeastern Syria recently issued an ultimatum for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) following …

Drawing on his rapport with the Polish president and a landmark drone deal with Warsaw, Erdogan seems to be aiming at two goals — strengthening his hand in NATO and having a close ally within the European Union. For those familiar with why Istanbul happens to have a “Polish village,” …

Dozens of medical workers in rebel-held northwest Syria on Monday protested a decision to grant President Bashar Assad’s government a seat on the executive board of the World Health Organization. They said Assad is responsible for bombing hospitals and clinics across the war-ravaged country. The decision to give Syria a …

Egypt’s intelligence chief met Hamas leaders in Gaza on Monday to try to bolster a ceasefire between the Palestinian militant group and Israel and to discuss reconstruction plans following the recent hostilities, Egyptian and Palestinian officials said. The visit was the first by an Egyptian intelligence chief to the enclave …

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium is around 16 times the limit laid down in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear agreement signed between Tehran and major world powers in 2015. In its quarterly report on Monday, the IAEA said Iran’s …

Turkey has abducted the nephew of exiled religious leader Fethullah Gülen, a prominent preacher and outspoken critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s state-run news agency revealed Monday. According to the report, Selahaddin Gülen was captured in an undisclosed overseas location, thought to be Kenya, by intelligence agents. He is …

Egypt’s General Intelligence Directorate chief Abbas Kamel continued his mediation tour between Israel and Hamas on Monday, visiting with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar after his Sunday sit-downs with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Kamel’s trip to Gaza is the first …