Middle Orient

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.

The leaders of the Palestinian Authority (PA) walked away from the negotiating table a long time ago and show no interest in returning. They have continually refused to do what the Trump administration has asked: stop funding terrorism. They have shown again and again that they do not want a …

Qatar has not received an invitation to take part in two regional summits called to discuss attacks on Saudi oil assets inside the Arab kingdom and off the coasts of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a Qatari Foreign Ministry official says.

Iran said Monday it has quadrupled its uranium enrichment capacity as the war of words between Tehran and Washington shows little sign of cooling off.

A senior member of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps said Friday Iranian short-range missiles can “easily” reach warships in the Persian Gulf, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

Over the past few weeks, northwest Syria witnessed yet another serious military escalation. Russian and Syrian regime forces unleashed a deadly campaign of bombardment on parts of Idlib, Aleppo and Hama provinces, after two attacks by Hay’et Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an armed group formerly linked to al-Qaeda, killed 22 pro-regime …