Middle Orient

The gunman who killed four people in Austria on Monday night was convicted last year on charges of trying to join the Islamic State (IS) in Syria. The shooting took place near Vienna’s main synagogue in an area with many open restaurants and bars. The gunman, identified as Kujtim Fejzulai, …

The Turkish-backed forces in northwestern Syria suffered a major loss this weekend, when they lost their headquarters to the jihadist rebels in western Aleppo.

Turkish troops have completely withdrawn from a military base in northwest Syria, which was surrounded by Syrian government forces last year, but are apparently beefing up their presence elsewhere in the region. Syria’s official news agency SANA reported on Monday that Turkish soldiers have fully pulled out of the observation …

Saudi Arabia and Qatar are among countries slated to establish relations with Israel under a regional rapprochement launched by U.S. President Donald Trump, an Israeli official said on Monday.

The Turkish forces on Monday completed dismantling a Turkey-run observation point in Syria’s central province of Hama, state news agency SANA reported. The Turkish forces completed dismantling their observation point and took out all their gears in the town of Morek in the countryside of Hama, said SANA.

The announcement comes after the defacement of an Armenian genocide memorial in France. Turkey and France have had a series of disagreements in 2020. The French government plans to ban a Turkish nationalist group after the defacement of an Armenian memorial as tensions between France and Turkey continue to rise.

Iraqi Kurdish forces have deployed to a mountainous area long used as a camp ground by PKK militants, adding to the pressure the militants face from Turkey’s cross-border military operations in the region. Turkey’s months-long military operations in border areas on Iraqi Kurdistan soil have turned up pressure on the …

Jaber Ali Pasha, the current leader of the Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement, announced on Sunday his acceptance of a campaign, which calls on the parties to the internal conflict to form a legitimate litigation committee.

Iran’s currency, the rial, lost more than half its value so far just in 2020. Iran’s regime is currently running a $200 million budget deficit per week and it is estimated that if the pressure on Tehran continues, the deficit will hit roughly $10 billion by March 2021. This deficit …

Sources in Sudan and Egypt have revealed that Saudi Arabia is to pay $335 million to the US in order to accelerate normalisation of ties between the government in Khartoum and Israel, Safa news agency reported on Wednesday.