Middle Orient

Islamic State operatives arrested after illegally crossing the US border

On June 11, eight Tajik nationals with ties to the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP), the terrorist group’s branch in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia, were arrested in New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. Utilizing wiretaps to track their movements, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force apprehended the suspects …

Read More »

Battles rage in Rafah as Biden blames Hamas for truce delay

Israeli helicopters struck Rafah on Thursday, residents said, with militants reporting street battles in the southern Gazan city as US President Joe Biden called Hamas the “biggest hang-up” to another truce. Tensions were also soaring on Israel’s northern border, with more attacks by Hamas ally Hezbollah targeting military positions and …

Read More »

Hamas submits Gaza cease-fire response to Qatar, Egypt

Hamas’ formal reply comes a day after the UN Security Council passed a resolution backing the three-phase proposal. The United States is evaluating the formal response Hamas submitted on the proposed cease-fire plan for the Gaza Strip, the White House said Tuesday. The Palestinian militant group does not appear to …

Read More »

Pentagon hosts Lebanon’s army chief in bid to avert Israel-Hezbollah war

The Biden administration wants the Lebanese Armed Forces to deploy near the Israel-Lebanon border to help defuse a potentially explosive conflict with Hezbollah. But first, Lebanon’s top general needs to be able to pay his soldiers their salaries. Lebanon’s top military general met with senior Biden administration officials and congressional …

Read More »

UN probe accuses Israel of crimes against humanity in Gaza war

The independent UN Commission of Inquiry’s report noted ‘a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population in Gaza’. A UN investigation concluded on Wednesday that Israel has committed crimes against humanity during its war on Gaza, including that of “extermination”, while saying Israeli and Palestinian armed groups have …

Read More »

IRGC Qods Force Deputy Operations Chief Gen. Mohsen Chizari On Qods Force Deputy Commander In Syria And Lebanon Hajj Rahimi, Killed In Damascus: Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ‘Directs, Leads, And Commands’ The Resistance Axis; Under Him, The Resistance Axis Commanders – Including Hajj Rahimi – Successfully ‘Advanced The Resistance Front To A Certain Place, The Result Of Which Was Operation Al-Aqsa Flood [On October 7, 2023]’

Forty days after the April 1, 2024 Israeli airstrike in Damascus in which seven senior IRGC Qods Force officials were killed, Qods Force deputy operations commander Gen. Mohsen Chizari was interviewed by the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency. In the May 12, 2024 interview, he discussed the role and personality of …

Read More »

Israel Is Losing America

Netanyahu Should Work With Biden, Not Against Him In a surprise announcement on May 31, U.S. President Joe Biden outlined a road map for “an enduring cease-fire [in the Gaza Strip] and the release of all hostages.” The plan, he declared, had been authored by Israel, and he urged Hamas …

Read More »

America Is Losing the Arab World

And China Is Reaping the Benefits October 7, 2023, was a watershed moment not just for Israel but for the Arab world. Hamas’s horrific attack occurred just as a new order appeared to be emerging in the region. Three years earlier, four members of the Arab League—Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and …

Read More »

Yemen’s Houthis say they have arrested an ‘American-Israeli spy cell’

Yemen’s Houthis said on Monday they have arrested an “American-Israeli spy cell”, a few days after the Iran-backed group detained about a dozen United Nations personnel. The alleged cell included former staff of the U.S. embassy in Yemen, according to a television statement from Abdel Hakim Al Khaiwani, the Houthis’ …

Read More »

Eyeing showdown with Hezbollah, Israel presses shadow campaign in Syria

Israel has intensified covert strikes in Syria against weapons sites, supply routes and Iranian-linked commanders, seven regional officials and diplomats said, ahead of a threatened full-scale assault on Tehran’s key ally Hezbollah in Lebanon. A June 2 air raid that killed 18 people, including an adviser with Iran’s elite Revolutionary …

Read More »