Middle Orient

Iraq’s diverse groups have long been pitted against each other. A USIP partner is looking to change that through curriculum reform. Vida Hanna, a director for public relations at Catholic University in Erbil, recalled the first week of her first-grade year when a classmate called her a kafir, or an …

Lacking better options, Russia appears to be pursuing a ‘spheres of influence’ model. Five years into Russia’s military intervention in Syria, understanding Moscow’s endgame could provide critical insights into the decade-long conflict’s trajectory, as well as Russia’s posture in the Middle East and beyond. Although still evolving and subject to …

There were far more deaths than usual in the camp for Islamic State families in January amid calls from the United Nations and Kurdish forces for countries to take back their citizens. There was a deadly uptick in violence in the notorious al-Hol camp in northeast Syria last month. A …

Images from The Associated Press show vehicles and structures being removed from the Emirates’ military base. The United Arab Emirates is dismantling its military base on the Horn of Africa. The move follows the UAE’s lessening involvement in the Yemeni civil war. Satellite images obtained by The Associated Press show …

The Pentagon welcomed NATO’s increased contribution to training Iraq’s security forces. NATO has agreed to significantly broaden its military advising and stabilization mission in Iraq to roughly 4,000 troops, the alliance announced Thursday. “Today we decided to expand NATO’s training mission in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces as they …

There are signs that the Astana talks on the Syrian war — which began in 2017 and are sponsored by Moscow, Ankara and Tehran — have little prospect of making progress going forward.

Iran-backed militias, known as Fatemioon in Syria, have begun moving their weapons, ammunition, and rockets to the underground tunnels previously dug by the Islamic State (IS), a report said.

It is important to note that Israel did not stop the Palestinians in the past from holding presidential and parliamentary elections in 1996, 2005 and 2006. Israel did not even stop Arab residents of Jerusalem from running in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council election as candidates for Hamas, the Islamist …

The Syrian regime has imposed Islamic personal status laws on the Yazidi community, sparking outrage and fears for the ethnoreligious minority that faced genocide in neighboring Iraq. A Justice Ministry circular issued on Sunday ruled that the Yazidi minority were not exempt from Islamic personal status laws, essentially terming the …

The Air Force Intelligence Branch has issued a list of more than 100 wanted residents from the village of Kanaker in the western countryside of Damascus. The individuals are accused of causing the recent security tension in the village. Private sources said that the list includes the names of young …