Middle Orient

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s deputy chief of staff outlined why the Kurdish region’s government wants US forces stationed in and around the Fish Khabur border crossing. The Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq has formally asked the US-led coalition to deploy observers to patrol …

Following the discovery of a motorcycle bomb, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham have set a number of checkpoints and made multiple arrests reports Baladi News. The city of Maarrat Misrin in the northern countryside of Idleb witnessed, on Tuesday morning, an intense security mobilization and a wide spread of security checkpoints affiliated …

A Nasiriyah activist has accused supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr of targeting his home in an IED attack early on Thursday morning. “I had just returned to Habboubi Square when I got a call saying my house had been hit with an IED,” activist Wali Jabar told Rudaw English …

Following recent statements, it is thought that Mazloum Abdi could leave the PKK and that foreign fighters could withdraw from eastern Syria writes Alsouria Net. Mazloum Abdi admitted in recent statements that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are receiving support from the Turkish Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for military operations …

The eighth batch of displaced Syrians have left the al-Hol camp, as part of ongoing effort to remove Syrians from the camp writes North Press. On Monday, a new batch of displaced Syrians left the al-Hol camp in the eastern countryside of the city of Hassakeh, northeast Syria.

According to Arab intelligence that confirmed the reports, the submarine passed the Red Sea and was making its way towards the Persian Gulf. An IDF Navy submarine crossed the Suez Canal last week as a direct message to Iran, Kan News reported Monday evening.

What is Iran’s real goal with the nuclear option? It appears that it is quite different from the nuclear weapons obtained by Pakistan or India, or the US and Soviet Union A little noticed comment by Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani about Iran’s missile program should have raised eyes abroad. He …

“Biden should seek Iran nuke restrictions for 50 years.” The incoming Biden administration may waste sanctions leverage the US has against Iran simply because of an emotional reaction to undo everything the Trump administration did, former national security adviser Yaakov Amidror said Monday.

The outgoing Trump administration appears to have made little if any progress in achieving its goal. Earlier this month, a Trump administration official told Congress that Washington’s goals for the outcome of Syria’s civil war remain “within reach.”

An American nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine traversed the strategically vital waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula on Monday, the U.S. Navy said, a rare announcement that comes amid rising tensions with Iran.