Middle Orient

Militants from the Syrian Democratic Forces have kidnapped the head of al-Jawadyia town council from his home and taken him to an unknown location writes SANA.

A drone strike has hit the oil smuggling sites used by the Turkish-backed forces, with Russia suspected of being responsible writes Al-Masdar.

Ilham Ahmed of the Syrian Democratic Council has not ruled out discussion with the Syrian regime or Turkey, during a symposium in Aleppo reports North Press.

Sergey Lavrov and Mohammad Javad Zarif have met to discuss the crisis in Syria, the need for diplomatic efforts and plans for another meeting of the Astana countries writes The Syria Times.

Using Yanbu, as well as air bases at Tabuk and Taif along the Red Sea, would give the American military more options along a crucial waterway that has come under increased attack from Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi militias.

The Turkish presidency has sent a memorandum to Parliament to extend the mission of the Turkish Navy in the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea and the territorial waters of Somalia for an additional year, starting February 10, 2021. It does not seem that Turkey will put an end to …

Peshmerga that fought on the front lines against the Islamic State see the film as an “insult and belittling the role of Peshmergas.”

Turkey’s state-run press agency is churning out angry coverage of former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea producing a TV series about the Syrian Kurdish women fighters who were key in defeating the Islamic State.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hinting to the new US administration that reentering the original nuclear deal with Iran could spell Israeli military action.

Though Moscow’s stance on Iran’s regional activities might be ambivalent, Russian competition with Iran in Syria, as well as their military-defense cooperation, will afford Washington limited opportunities to rely on Russian leverage-plays with Tehran.