Middle Orient

A normalization announcement between Israel and Saudi Arabia is close and there could be major developments following the US presidential elections depending on who wins, Mossad director Yossi Cohen has said in closed conversations, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

France on Saturday said it was recalling its ambassador to Turkey for consultations after comments by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggesting his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, needed a mental health check-up, which Paris condemned as unacceptable.

Turkey’s tests of its Russian-made S-400 air defense systems violate Ankara’s commitment to NATO and may hamper its security relations with the US, the Pentagon has said, after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed the drills.

The IDF struck sites belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip, after two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards Ashkelon on Thursday night.One rocket fell in an open field, while the second was intercepted by the Iron Dome system.

A prominent Syrian Muslim cleric in charge of the Damascus region was killed Thursday when a bomb planted in his car exploded outside the capital, state news agency SANA said. Adnan al-Afiyuni, the Sunni Muslim mufti for Damascus province, was considered to be close to President Bashar al-Assad who hails …

The Israel Defense Forces know that the uncovering of a large Hamas terror tunnel does not mean that group would abandon its efforts to attack Israel. This week began with strenuous Israeli military activity all along the border fence with the Gaza Strip, including a troop buildup, Merkava Mark 4 …

Despite reluctance among Arab-Israeli lawmakers, Israel’s Arab public largely supports the normalization deals signed with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Turkey’s decision to evacuate military posts in regime-held areas in Idlib is hardly reassuring when considered against the backdrop of its continued military buildup elsewhere in the region.

French President Emmanuel Macron has clearly decided to up the ante in a standoff with Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean, where France is backing Greece and Cyprus in their dispute with Ankara over natural gas reserves and maritime boundaries.

Competition over the world’s maritime resources and territorial disputes over maritime borders are becoming increasingly prominent in international affairs. At the same time, depleted fish stocks and polluted waters make the question of how countries can collectively manage maritime resources a central one, particularly in discussions over climate change.