Middle Orient

Some claim that a secret deal between Ankara and Damascus is behind the latest escalation between the Syrian government and the Kurds, but the situation could be more complex than it seems.

Turkish defense minister Hulusi Akar’s unique visit to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region this week was dominated by the subject of the fight against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). A number of his comments to the media, hinting at a rare coordination between Ankara, Baghdad and Erbil against the PKK, …

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Friday announced the arrests of tens of Islamic State (ISIS) suspects in Deir ez-Zor in the past 24 hours, the first day of a new military operation launched in retaliation for the recent assassination of two female municipal employees.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delegation will return to Erbil empty handed on Wednesday after failing to reach an agreement with Baghdad on the Region’s share of the 2021 federal budget, a senior Kurdish official in the Iraqi capital told Rudaw on Wednesday.

Peshmerga forces have been deployed to a part of Iraq’s disputed territories because of “increased threats” of attacks by the Islamic State (ISIS), the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) peshmerga ministry said on Wednesday.

Around 95 Arab personalities and Christian clerics have petitioned French, American, German and British governments to lift the sanctions set against the Assad regime for having caused a humanitarian crisis in Syria, according to the petitioners; a message which Syrian analysts unanimously agree on the seriousness of its potential impact …

The fragile ties between Damascus and the Kurdish-led autonomous administration in northern Syria have seen a dangerous escalation amid widespread anticipation that US support for the Syrian Kurds will grow after the change of guard at the White House. The two sides have sought to besiege one another in several …

Satellite imagery that The War Zone has obtained of Russia’s Khmeimim air base outpost in Syria shows work ongoing to extend one of its two main runways by around 1,000 feet. The extension would allow the base to support more regular deployments of larger and more heavily-laden aircraft, including heavy …

Moscow sent a substantial military convoy of equipment and weapons systems of the Russian Federation to the area of ​​the Syrian city of Ayn Issa, some Russian agencies report, including Aviapro. According to sources in the Russian news agency, it is a convoy of at least 16 vehicles, including armored …

The Iraqi prime minister has used Issawi’s killing to restore the public’s trust in the government and security forces, which had declined following two security setbacks in Baghdad and Saladin.