Middle Orient

Incoming Biden administration officials have suggested a return to the nuclear deal is a long way off. The Biden administration plans to hold early conversations with foreign leaders ahead of any effort to reenter the Iran nuclear deal, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday.

Inhabitants of Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor region, which has an Arab-majority but is under the control of the Kurdish-led SDF, have protested repeatedly in recent weeks against alleged arbitrary arrests, price gouging, and lack of services; many urge more direct contact between the local population and the international coalition.

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi also sacked a number of Iraqi security officials within hours of the attacks. A day after deadly dual bombings tore through a crowded market in central Baghdad, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi promised that the intelligence failure “would not be repeated.” Kadhimi said during an urgent …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s alliance with his nationalist partner appears under growing strain amid a combination of domestic and external pressures. Three politically motivated assaults on figures critical of the government’s nationalist ally rattled the Turkish capital last week. The brazen violence sent shockwaves across opposition quarters, but President …

SOHR sources have reported that unknown gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead, with machineguns, a member of the SDF-backed Internal Security Forces (Asayish) in Al-Karamah town in the east of Al-Raqqah city. Meanwhile, Asayish Forces launched a security campaign in the area, searching for the attackers, but they have not …

Aleppo Province – Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: Turkish forces stationed in their military bases in “Euphrates Shield” areas, have shelled Al-Shahbaa area, Sad Al-Shahbaa and the surrounding areas of Mare’ town in Kurdish-held areas in the northern countryside of Aleppo. No casualties have been reported.

A military commander of the Russian-backed “Liwaa Al-Quds” and his escort were killed, while another member sustained serious injuries, after their car was targeted today with a guided missile on Tallat Balah in Aleppo countryside.

The U.N. special envoy for Syria announced Wednesday that the next round of talks toward revising the war-battered country’s constitution will start in Geneva on Jan. 25 and urged the parties to move to actual drafting.

Twin suicide bombings ripped through a busy market in the Iraqi capital on Thursday, killing at least 32 people and wounding dozens, officials said in what was the first massive bombing in years, harkening back to darker days of rampant militant attacks.

Syrian opposition groups worry that the Turkish withdrawal signals a coming military offensive. The opposition factions in Idlib confronted Jan. 14 a ground attack launched by the Syrian regime forces on al-Ankawi axis in al-Ghab Plain in northwest Hama that lies south of the strategic M4 highway.