Middle Orient

An explosion has spread terror in Afrin and killed nine people and injured, at least, a further 43 people reports Zaman Al-Wasl.

Unknown gunmen carried out new assassinations in Daraa Governorate, targeting former military leaders in the Syrian opposition.

Russian newspaper Izvestia revealed that attempts were made by the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, to approach Europe and the Arab Gulf, noting that “so far, he has not succeeded.”

In Brief Many Syrians were surprised when Bashar al-Assad appointed Hussein Arnous as prime minister after the dismissal of Imad Khamis, in what resembled a scandal, on Aug. 30, 2020. The Syrians knew nothing about Arnous, despite him being part of the Syrian bureaucratic system for nearly thirty years. People …

As Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed historic peace deals in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Iran dismissed the agreement as a “strategic mistake” and the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah called for “military resistance” in support of the Palestinians.

The Syrian regime and Russian forces are facing a growing threat of the Islamic State, which continues to hold pockets across the desert in central Syria.

The US-led anti-IS coalition provided helicopter transport for the Iraqi raid in al-Rutba. Iraqi commandos killed a suspected Islamic State (IS) financier and captured an IS leader in an operation in western Anbar province on Monday, according to Iraq’s Defense Ministry.

The Afghan paramilitary group Fatemiyoun Division, which answers to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), held its first “international conference,” an ideological indoctrination gathering, on Aug. 13 at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday warned France that its efforts to resolve the crisis in Lebanon would be in vain without immediately tackling the issue of Iran-backed Hezbollah’s weaponry.

The United States applauded Serbia on Sunday for announcing that it will designate Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization.