Moscow has announced it will begin drilling for fresh water under the Sea of Azov this summer to address growing water shortages in occupied Crimea, a project President Vladimir Putin called for, with surprisingly limited fanfare, at the end of last year (Aif.ru, May 4, 2021; Znak.com, December 18, 2020). …

Escalation with Hamas arrives exactly at the moment when the anti-Netanyahu bloc is trying to cobble up a “government for change.” The current round of violence that erupted May 10 between Israel and Hamas has two unusual aspects. The first is unprecedented. For the first time ever, a relatively minor …

The cargo vessel got stuck in a canal north of the Caspian Sea while bringing goods to Iran. Russia and Iran have lobbied for an alternative to the Suez Canal through their countries recently. A Russian cargo ship headed toward Iran got stuck in a canal near the Caspian Sea …

In a meeting with a powerful parliamentary commission on the recently leaked audiotape of himself, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he would not run for president. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif spoke at parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee meeting regarding the leaked audio that has …

The murder of a prominent activist in Karbala has triggered protests and calls for answers. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in the southern Iraqi city of Karbala on Sunday, with some targeting the Iranian Consulate following the assassination of a well-known Iraqi activist by unknown gunmen. Ehab Wazni …

Ahrar al-Sham, which was once one of the largest factions of the Syrian armed opposition in Idlib, has formed a new leadership council that is being perceived as a coup against the movement’s political leaders, who fear the group’s integration into Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Ahrar al-Sham, which is affiliated with …

Norland, who has served as chief of mission to Libya since August 2019, will lead US diplomatic efforts to promote a political solution to the conflict. US Ambassador to Libya Richard Norland will take on the additional role as US special envoy, a position aimed at keeping the war-torn country’s …

Turkey appears reluctant to back down from its military posture in Libya, even as its normalization bid with Egypt depends greatly on whether the two sides find common ground in the Libyan conflict. Turkey and Egypt held their first high-level meeting in eight years last week, but Ankara has shown …

Opposition group says the person who was wounded worked for the Hezbollah terror group on the Syrian Golan An Israeli helicopter bombed an alleged Hezbollah site on the Syrian Golan Heights, injuring one person, in a rare daytime strike on Monday, according to Syrian sources. The Israel Defense Forces refused …

Tel Aviv Municipality opened bomb shelters amid concern that Hamas and Islamic Jihad will try to launch rockets toward the center of the country on Tuesday. Two women were killed and more than 90 people were injured on Tuesday after rockets, fired from the Gaza Strip, slammed into a number …