Middle Orient

An American citizen was arrested in Syria after becoming a sniper and weapons trainer for the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS), federal authorities in New York said Friday. Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, 42, was transferred to FBI custody Wednesday and brought to the United States after his detention overseas …

Navy Commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi says Iran is in possession of intercontinental drones and will definitely put them to use if the need for a long-haul mission arises.

The situation in the Persian Gulf has been overshadowed by a series of incidents, including attacks on oil tankers in June and the seizure of the UK-flagged Stena Impero vessel last week.

Iranian Intelligence Ministry official said on Monday that 17 spies affiliated with Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have been identified.

The increased use of drones by Iran and its allies for surveillance and attacks across the Middle East is raising alarms in Washington. The United States believes that Iran-linked militia in Iraq have recently increased their surveillance of American troops and bases in the country by using off-the-shelf, commercially available …

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of Iran has detained a foreign oil tanker it said had been smuggling fuel, Iranian news media reported on Thursday, days after a United Arab Emirates vessel with the same name disappeared in the Persian Gulf.

Russia has sent special forces in recent days to fight alongside Syrian army troops in northwestern Syria where they have been struggling for more than two months to seize the last opposition bastion, senior rebel commanders said. Moscow, a staunch ally of President Bashar al-Assad, denied on Thursday that it …

Turkish defence minister said the attack ‘dealt a heavy blow’ to the ‘terrorist’ Kurdish armed group, PKK, in Qandil. Turkey on Thursday launched an air attack on the Kurdish region in northern Iraq in response to the killing of a Turkish diplomat in the region, the country’s defence minister said.

Russian Defense Ministry releases statement categorically rejecting claim its troops are participating in Idlib offensive. Russia has reportedly dispatched special forces to the front line of an ongoing Syrian regime offensive in the northwestern province of Idlib, the last major bastion controlled by rebels, mainly from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an …

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has released footage captured by an Iranian drone flying over the Strait of Hormuz and monitoring a United States Navy vessel, belying a claim by Washington that the unmanned aircraft was shot down by the American forces.