Middle Orient

Turkey has confirmed that its troop presence in Libya will remain in place pending Libyan government approval and the status of the 2019 Ankara-Tripoli bilateral military agreement. Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin confirmed the decision in an interview with state broadcaster TRT.

Israel’s military has for the past decade repeatedly attacked Iranian targets in Syria, conducting hundreds of air raids against military bases, missile production sites and training facilities.

Iran and Russia to hold a joint naval drill in northern part of the Indian Ocean in the “near future.” Iran’s army test fired a sophisticated short-range missile on Sunday, state media reported.

Israel fired several missiles early on Monday targeting areas near the Syrian capital, Damascus, Syria’s state news agency reported. An opposition war-monitoring group said the strikes killed six Iran-backed fighters.

No less than 13 intelligence and police personnel, including two intelligence directors, were killed. A Turkish operation in northern Iraq ended in a bloodbath after special forces failed to rescue 13 elite intelligence and police officers who had been kidnapped by Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants.

Iran is seeking to expand its influence over regime-controlled areas, according to Asharq Al-Awsat. Despite Iran insisting that it only plays an advisory role in Syria, a recent report published by a UK-based war monitor confirmed that Tehran is actively consolidating its influence over regime-controlled areas in the war-torn Levantine …

Syrian army says Israeli military jets flew over the Golan Heights to hit targets on the edge of Damascus. Syria’s army said on Monday the country’s air defences intercepted “Israeli aggression” over the capital, Damascus, in the latest stepped-up bombing of alleged Iranian targets inside the country over the last …

Dozens of U.S. military vehicles carrying assistance to the PKK’s Syrian offshoot YPG-dominated SDF arrived in northeastern Syria on Sunday, according to video footage shared on Twitter. The trucks carrying military assistance, including the Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle used by the U.K. Special Forces, were seen in the footage allegedly …

Strengthening its military presence, Russia has established a new unit near Hassakeh, writes Anadolu News Agency. Russia started to establish a military unit consisting of local elements in Syria’s northeastern Hassakeh province, according to local sources.

The areas of northern and eastern Aleppo, which are under the control of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), are witnessing a state of lawlessness and an increase in the number of car and motorcycle bombings, in addition to assassinations and fighting among the factions. The most recent of incident …