Middle Orient

Strengthened Iraq-GCC relations could bolster stability in the country and lessen Baghdad’s dependence on Iran. Iraqi sovereignty and the war against extremism are fights the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is committed to winning, according to a top GCC official on Monday.

Lebanon’s army said on Monday it had arrested 18 people, some Lebanese and others Syrian, with links to Islamic State.

Israeli army, meanwhile, says drone fell in Lebanese territory during operational activity along the Blue Line. Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement has said it shot down an Israeli drone that flew over the United Nations-demarcated Blue Line border.

British Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter jets have destroyed two groups of Daesh fighters in northern Iraq, as military operations against the terrorist group intensify in retaliation for a deadly suicide bombing in Baghdad.

Almost two years since its territorial defeat, the terror group still has access to $100 million in cash reserves, according to the US government. The Islamic State terror group was largely crushed by coordinated international effort in 2019, but its networks appear to still have access to an estimated $100 …

A US defense official has warned that Biden’s withdrawal from Syria will leave oil fields unprotected, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. US forces in Syria are focused on fighting the remnants of the Islamic State group and are not guarding oil fields as previously ordered by ex-president Donald Trump, a US …

Turkey’s Interior Ministry said on Monday that a new operation was launched aimed a combating Kurdish separatist movements in the country’s southern regions, media reported.

The Islamic Republic’s large coastal defence fleet of small missile and machinegun-armed speedboats has become a major headache for US military planners. Last year, then-President Donald Trump threatened to blow Iranian speedboats out of the water after accusing Iran of “harassing” large US surface warships by zipping by them at …

The White House is clarifying its position on Iran after President Joe Biden gave an interview in which he indicated that the United States would not lift sanctions until Tehran stops enriching uranium. “Just to be very clear, the president never said that exactly,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki …

ISIS have killed 26 regime fighters in an ambush in Deir-ez-Zor, reports Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. The Islamic State (ISIS) group on Monday ambushed a regime convoy in eastern Syria, killing at least 26 fighters, including seven Syrian troops, a war monitor said.