Middle Orient

IntelBrief: United States and Iran Heading Slowly Toward the Brink Again

Bottom Line up Front The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated both Iran and the United States, but has not prevented tensions between them from escalating again. Iran’s willingness to undertake provocative actions indicates that the U.S. campaign of ‘maximum pressure’ has not mitigated the threat from Iran. Iranian leaders assess that …

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PLO's Program of Deception and Lies

“The PLO recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security… accepts United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338… commits itself… to a peaceful resolution of the conflict between the two sides… the PLO renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence… …

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The Middle East between Collective Security and Collective Breakdown

What’s new?* Middle East tensions spiked in the past year following attacks on oil tankers and Saudi oil facilities, the U.S. killing of a senior Iranian commander and Iranian military retaliation. Some of Washington’s allies, losing confidence the U.S. will reliably extend military protection, have started making cautious diplomatic overtures to …

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Hezbollah considers the United States, not Israel, its greatest enemy

April 18, 1996 is an infamous date in Lebanese history, particularly, among south Lebanon’s Shia Muslims. Israeli forces, engaged in operation Grapes of Wrath against Hezbollah, struck a UN compound in Qana, killing 106 Lebanese civilians sheltering there. The group, however, placed ultimate blame for the strike on the United …

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Russian presence in Libya more dangerous than ISIS, says US Africa Command

Gen. Khalifa Haftar, the rebel leader who controls Libya’s oil-rich east, recently declared he has a popular mandate to rule all of the North African nation, a move that may give Russia the upper hand if he can succeed in taking Tripoli amid nearly a decade’s worth of sectarian strife.

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