Middle Orient

Bashar al-Jaafari has lashed out at the UN and demanded that foreign powers end their occupation of Syrian lands and halt support for separatist movements reports Al-Masdar.

The Omran Center for Strategic Studies published a study on Thursday that identified several factors preventing Syrian refugees from returning to Syria, some of which are related to the security and military component, and others to the economic component.

Cholo Abdi Abdullah Obtained Pilot Training and Researched How to Hijack Aircraft in Order to Conduct a 9/11-Style Attack at the Direction of al Shabaab

Hamas’s call on Moroccans to revolt against their leaders contradicts its own declared policy that it does not intervene in the internal affairs of the Arab countries. “Hamas does not meddle in the internal affairs of Arab and Muslim countries,” said senior Hamas official Salah Bardaweel. If true, why is …

As the Biden team begins its work next month, it needs to reassess American policy in Syria, Robert Ford, former U.S. Ambassador to Damascus writes Last week a senior official from the US Department of State told a congressional committee that the enduring defeat of ISIS (or Da’esh) in Syria, …

Contradicting reports have emerged about talks for an Israel-Hamas prisoner-exchange deal after an Egyptian delegation visited Gaza last week. The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported this morning that Israel proposed a deal in which Israel would release hundreds of security prisoners in exchange for returning of bodies of two IDF soldiers …

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced on Tuesday he has decided to appoint Mossad’s Deputy Director D. as the next chief of the clandestine intelligence agency. D. is considered a protégé of current Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and has spent his entire military career in the intelligence agency as part …

Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi said that he respects Morocco’s choice to recognize the Jewish state but that Tunisia is not considering doing the same. Tunisia has no plans to follow Morocco’s lead and normalize relations with Israel, Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi said Monday.

The Islamic State continues to haunt and drain out the Syrian regime forces even after it lost its last stronghold in Syria more than a year ago. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said in a Dec. 4 report, “Military operations are ongoing in separate axes in the Syrian …

The outgoing US administration is continuing to pressure Iran and its allies in its final weeks in office. The US government designated a Bahraini organization as a terror group today, part of a push to further pressure Iran and its allies before President Donald Trump leaves office in January.