Middle Orient

Russian military police last week reportedly carried out a raid against Iranian-backed militiamen stationed at Syria’s Aleppo international airport, local media reported.

Analysis: U.S. sanctions on Iran are taking toll on its Lebanon-based proxy: fighters’ salaries are sliced, assets sold off and even prized Al-Manar TV station is laying off staff; meanwhile, the group itself has not escaped American scrutiny

The only consistency in the Trump administration’s Middle East policy has been to support autocratic regimes and strongmen, as it has in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.The Trump administration’s top national security officials met with Congress multiple times in May to discuss how the President interprets the threat posed by Iran.U.S. …

An Israeli airstrike on a Syrian anti-aircraft position near the Golan Heights Monday killed one soldier and wounded three, Syria said. Israel called the rocket strike on Tal al-Shaar retaliation for a Syrian missile fired at an Israeli military jet it said was a routine flight.

Iraqi military intelligence services arrested on Wednesday a senior Islamic State leader in the western province of Anbar. The Iraqi Military Intelligence Directorate, in a statement, said that its troops “arrested Abu Anas al-Samarei, the military adviser of an Islamic State commander, who was responsible for collecting weapons from citizens, …

Who are Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the most powerful group in the last province held by rebels in Syria? The ongoing government offensive against the last rebel-held areas in northern Syria has once again put the spotlight on the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the dominant faction in Idlib Province.

Even as the so-called Islamic State (IS) embarks on a new phase of global expansion, as evidenced by the recent Easter attacks in Sri Lanka, its jihadist rival Al Qaeda is enjoying a resurgence in the Syrian conflict theatre.

According to a second source, Iran and Syria already signed a protocol for the training of naval forces in Syria. Jorf News, a Syrian news site, reported that Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps began a naval combat training course in Latakia province in northern Syria. Latakia is where Russia’s Khmeimim …

The United States is reminding its Syrian Kurdish allies not to get overly ambitious while at the same time trying to allay concerns Washington will abandon them to Turkey or a possibly resurgent Islamic State terror group.

Acting Secretary of Defense Pat Shanahan said the steps taken to bolster the U.S. military presence in the Middle East have deterred Iran and “put on hold the potential for attacks on Americans,” even as Iran carried out other attacks.