In early August, I watched the frenzied U.S. exit from Afghanistan from my hotel room in Accra, Ghana. I was not the only one in West Africa transfixed by the events in Kabul. Though Ghana is some 7,000 miles from Afghanistan, the chaotic scenes from the Kabul airport played on …

China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, held a phone call with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday after Russian troops invaded Ukraine and began airstrikes on numerous Ukrainian cities. The call is part of a delicate geopolitical balancing act on China’s part. Beijing has been careful not to explicitly endorse …

President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine to “free Ukrainians from oppression,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday, reflecting Moscow’s stark interpretation of the bombing and airstrike campaign against its pro-Western neighbor. “President Putin has decided to conduct a special military operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, so …

Ukraine’s president denounced Russia in a televised address: “They say that civilian objects are not a target for them. It is a lie. They do not distinguish in which areas to operate.” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shifted the debate in the French presidential race, shining a spotlight on the …

The HTS is using the same methods as the Syrian regime to repress protests, according to North Press. People in Idleb city and its countryside, northwest Syria, stage protests against the practices of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS-formerly al-Nusra Front) from time to time, but soon the security forces of the …

Abu Amsha, leader of the Suleyman Shah division, was exiled outside of Afrin for two years, according to al-Souria Net. The arbitration committee charged with investigating the violations of the Suleyman Shah Division issued a decision banning its leader, Muhammad al-Jassem, nicknamed Abu Amsha, for a period of two Hijri …

Israeli officials are worried that sanctions on Russia would hinder the cooperation between the two countries in Syria, according to SY-24. Israeli officials have expressed concern that U.S. sanctions against Russia in response to a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine could harm Tel Aviv’s security interests in Syria, Israel’s Walla …

Silence rules unchallenged over the Independence Square in Kyiv. Many of the city’s residents have taken refuge in the various bunkers and metro stations near them, as the threat of Russian strikes over the Ukrainian capital mounts. Although they seem worlds apart, today, the cities of Ukraine and Syria have …

The latest Houthi-related sanctions come as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia push the Biden administration to designate the Iran-supported group as a terrorist organization. The US Treasury Department on Wednesday imposed new sanctions on a smuggling network that it said was helping fund Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The designations …

President Isaac Herzog meets with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens. Reiterating his earlier statement, Herzog says Israel is worried about the situation in Ukraine, but offers no criticism of Russia. “We call on the relevant sides to solve the conflict,” he says.