Middle Orient

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week described a powerful Iranian military commander as a “terrorist,” while discussing options the U.S. government could have to further punish Iran for its destabilizing activities in the Middle East.

Libya’s UN-backed government says its military has shot down a fighter jet belonging to the so-called Libyan National Army (LNA), led by strongman Khalifa Haftar, whose forces are fighting for the control of the capital Tripoli.

Benjamin Netanyahu — “Bibi” to both friends and enemies — will undoubtedly succeed himself as Israel’s prime minister after his recent electoral success and, in July, surpass David Ben-Gurion as Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. But, unlike most genuinely successful leaders of democracies, his first priority will have to be avoiding …

Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism force targeted ISIS holdouts Thursday in the northern region of Hamreen, including a media center, more than a year after the country declared ISIS vanquished, Agence France Presse reported.

L’Irak a proposé aux pays membres de la coalition internationale antijihadistes de juger leurs ressortissants soupçonnés d’avoir rejoint le groupe État islamique (EI), en échange d’au moins deux milliards de dollars.

The Moroccan Interior Ministry announced on Wednesday the busting of terror cell made up of four suspects and led by a former fighter in Syria and Iraq.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah raised the prospect of retaliation by Iran and its allies over U.S. sanctions, saying on Wednesday that all options were on the table were Washington to take steps that “threaten our nation”.

Iran’s leaders have responded angrily to US President Donald Trump’s designation of its elite Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organisation.

President Trump’s declaration that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is a foreign terrorist organization is the first time the United States government has designated a part of another country’s military as that type of threat. In doing so, Mr. Trump took broad aim at a pillar of the Iranian state, …

The Islamic State (IS) might have lost all its territory in Iraq and Syria, but its ideology has not been defeated. Al-Qaeda may be able to exploit this situation and stage a comeback, taking advantage of its local roots along the Iraqi-Syrian border.