Middle Orient

Tensions between Asayish and government forces are no closer to being resolved, according to The Levant News. No common vision has been reached to end recent tensions in the cities of Hassakeh and Qamishli. The impasse came during a meeting held under the auspices of the Russian forces in the …

The UAE’s cabinet last month approved the establishment of an embassy in Tel Aviv. Dubai’s ruler and The United Arab Emirates’ Vice President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has sworn in the country’s first ambassador to Israel, Mohammed Mahmoud Al-Khaja, the Dubai Media Office said on Sunday.

Within a 24-hour period, Turkey’s ruling party and its supporters managed to, first, admit they botched a deadly raid in northern Iraq, blamed “terrorists” for killing people harmed in the raid, and then moved the target to attack domestic political opponents. Turkey’s AK Party, which has been in power almost …

Turkey has confirmed that its troop presence in Libya will remain in place pending Libyan government approval and the status of the 2019 Ankara-Tripoli bilateral military agreement. Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin confirmed the decision in an interview with state broadcaster TRT.

Israel’s military has for the past decade repeatedly attacked Iranian targets in Syria, conducting hundreds of air raids against military bases, missile production sites and training facilities.

Iran and Russia to hold a joint naval drill in northern part of the Indian Ocean in the “near future.” Iran’s army test fired a sophisticated short-range missile on Sunday, state media reported.

Israel fired several missiles early on Monday targeting areas near the Syrian capital, Damascus, Syria’s state news agency reported. An opposition war-monitoring group said the strikes killed six Iran-backed fighters.

No less than 13 intelligence and police personnel, including two intelligence directors, were killed. A Turkish operation in northern Iraq ended in a bloodbath after special forces failed to rescue 13 elite intelligence and police officers who had been kidnapped by Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants.

Iran is seeking to expand its influence over regime-controlled areas, according to Asharq Al-Awsat. Despite Iran insisting that it only plays an advisory role in Syria, a recent report published by a UK-based war monitor confirmed that Tehran is actively consolidating its influence over regime-controlled areas in the war-torn Levantine …

Syrian army says Israeli military jets flew over the Golan Heights to hit targets on the edge of Damascus. Syria’s army said on Monday the country’s air defences intercepted “Israeli aggression” over the capital, Damascus, in the latest stepped-up bombing of alleged Iranian targets inside the country over the last …