Middle Orient

The checkpoints of the Syrian regime and the pro-Iranian militias along the main road between Deir-ez-Zor and al-Bukamal are imposing royalties on merchants and local residents in their areas of control.

Ankara appears to be mulling a US-friendly foreign policy revision to counter Iran and Russia in the Caucasus and Black Sea regions, but such a shift will not be without geopolitical risks elsewhere.

Recent rumors regarding a decline in Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s health have led to renewed speculation about who will succeed him. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is 81 years old. For years now, a report every few months raises concern about his health. He has been described as …

A new COVID-19 strain and the possible return of Iranian crude to global markets could inflict “short-term pains” to Gulf oil producers whose local populations hold on to the oil era.

SOHR sources in the city of Al-Mayadeen in eastern rural Deir ez-Zor said that an explosion occurred yesterday in a fuel store in the area of al-Tayba in the city, which resulted in the death of two children.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: SOHR activists have monitored this morning three violent explosions in the Syrian regime-controlled city of Salamiya in eastern Hama countryside. No information has been reported so far about the nature of the explosions whether it was caused by a rocket attack or something else. …

According to an official statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian Ministry of Defense, Moscow has decided and sent its troops to the Golan Heights. Russian troops will patrol with Syrian soldiers directly on the Bravo Line, which currently separates Syrian and Israeli troops in the region.

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah denied Sunday having any data around Israeli or US intention to perform any operation before the end of Trump’s presidency dubbing the latter a “crazy who is in a state of severe madness”.

Iraq’s anti-terror group, Kata’ib Hezbollah, called the last week’s rocket attack against the US embassy in Baghdad a false-flag strike and a plot hatched by Washington. Muhammad Mohi, the spokesman for Kata’ib Hezbollah, which is part of the country’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), made the comments in an interview with …

Bahrain’s economy is heavily dependent on that of Saudi Arabia, making it an easy conduit for Saudi businesspeople to connect to Israel. Saudi Arabian companies plan to invest in Israel through Bahrain, according to a person with knowledge about the matter.