Middle Orient

Some nine years after Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) deployed military advisers and fighters to Syria to prop up the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, Israeli and U.S. officials have said Tehran is reducing its presence in Syria.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei says the United States will be “expelled from Iraq and Syria,” adding that “The U.S. government’s long-term performance has led to abhorrence by a major part of the world.”

Bottom Line Up Front The United States recently announced plans to remove two Patriot anti-missile systems from Saudi Arabia, which could be accompanied by a further drawdown of other U.S. military capabilities in the region.The removal of the Patriot missile batteries is emblematic of the Trump administration’s schizophrenic policy on …

Bottom Line up Front Iraq’s new government will struggle to extricate the country from its role as an arena for conflict between Iran and the United States, or necessarily set Iraq on a course for long-term stability.

The newly announced decision to shutter the Israeli Air Force’s (IAF) oldest F-16 squadron came as a direct result of the military’s large-scale, multi-year “Momentum” plan, which seeks to enhance the lethality of the Israel Defense Force (IDF) and signals a targeted focus on Iran.

With the Syrian regime’s offensive in Idlib paused, the time is now for a deal sparing the rebellion’s last stronghold the full wrath of reconquest. The parties should pursue an improved ceasefire including the regime, Russia, Turkey and the Islamist militants entrenched in the province.

Azerbaijan will soon celebrate 30 years since its independence and sovereignty was restored. However, the country’s foreign policy priorities have stayed largely the same since the early 1990s. That is, the restoration of territorial integrity, strengthening the country’s independence, and the development of strong regional economic partnerships.

Russia’s alleged displeasure with Bashar al-Assad and Iran in Syria has gotten a lot of attention recently in Western and some Arab media. The critical reports on the Syrian president in the Russian information space are certainly notable, but, if taken at face value, may be both confusing and misleading …

Turkish security forces killed seven armed terrorists in the country’s southeast and northern Iraq, the interior and defense ministries said Thursday.

Kurdish-led and international coalition forces raided Islamic State (IS) positions yesterday in eastern Syria — a site of recent IS activity.