Middle Orient

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.

The International Coalition against the so-called Islamic State on Sunday conducted an airstrike against a hideout of the terror group in rural parts of the disputed Kirkuk province, killing at least two suspected terrorists.

Hezbollah provided the New IRA with finances and shipments of weapons, according to an undercover agent who infiltrated the Irish terror group.Former British secret service operative Denis McFadden made the assessment after spying on the New IRA from within for more than 20 years.

The reality is, should the EU get its way, contrary to its claims to try and uphold the Good Friday Agreement, its demands would harm future prospects for peace and stability in Northern Ireland by undermining and destabilising the union.

This week’s tableau of Israeli, Bahraini and Emirati leaders gathered at the White House was meant to convey the reassuring message that the United States remains a strong force for peace and stability in the Middle East. Unfortunately, it was a misleadingly optimistic picture.