Middle Orient

Hezbollah is stepping up a campaign to place its allies at the heart of Lebanon’s banking system as the US seeks to disrupt the armed group’s financial networks, four senior Arab financiers said on Thursday.

Humat al Aqsa (HAA), a Gaza-based group that has long been suspected of being founded, directed and funded by senior Hamas political leader Fathi Hamad, recently promoted joint military operations with militant groups in the Gaza Strip on its social networking platforms.

Turkish security services thwarted the infiltration of five “terrorists” from Syria to the Mardin border state in southeastern Turkey.

Iraqi forces on Monday reported casualties on both sides during clashes with remnants of the so-called Islamic State in rural areas to the south of the disputed Kirkuk province. This is yet another incident involving operatives of the terrorist organization, which appears to have grown more active over the past …

Anti-terror units of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) arrested four Islamic State cells in an operation that included air support from the Coalition, the Kurdish-led forces said on Monday.

Bottom Line Up Front Baghdad’s difficulty in assembling a new government is a result of U.S.-Iran competition for influence in Iraq. The latest choice for Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, appears to be acceptable to both the United States and Iran. Despite its struggles against COVID-19, Iran has unified Iraq’s Shia …

If the reports about Erdogan’s readiness to invite Hamas leaders to live in Turkey are true, that would also turn Erdogan into the spiritual father of a terrorist group that seeks to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic state.

The U.S. Navy says 11 vessels of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) made “dangerous and harassing approaches” toward U.S. naval ships in the Persian Gulf.

Iran’s Navy commander says the force plans to build nuclear-powered submarines capable of operating in international waters for long periods of time amid the growing threats facing the country from the sea.

Spokesman for the Israeli occupation army, Avichai Adraee, on Friday accused the Syrian regime of allowing Hezbollah to deploy its forces in the Golan Heights.