Moscow’s relationship with the militant group Hamas is part of a Middle East strategy meant to boost its standing in the Global South: an effort that has long involved building ties with both Israel and its sworn enemies.The Kremlin purports to take a hard stance on terrorism. Yet since the …

Both the Prigozhin mutiny earlier this year and now the pogroms in the North Caucasus show that no matter how brutal and impenetrable the Russian regime may seem, it is weak and indecisive when confronted with any non-anti-Putin unrest. When an angry mob in Russia’s mostly Muslim republic of Dagestan …

As many as 700,000 Israeli settlers are living illegally in the occupied West Bank as settler violence surges. Since Israel unleashed its brutal bombing campaign in Gaza on October 7 in the wake of a deadly Hamas attack, settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem …

Asymmetric wars are usually bloodier and more savage than those between regular armies. Fighting in Gaza between the Israeli army and the armed faction of Hamas is a textbook example of modern asymmetric warfare. Whenever fighting ends, it will be studied by strategists and tacticians. The term “asymmetric warfare” has …

A war monitor said at least 34 Syrian soldiers and pro-government fighters were killed in an Islamic State attack in the central desert in one of the deadliest assaults by the group this year. At least 34 Syrian soldiers and pro-government fighters were killed and several others injured in one …

White House and Pentagon officials have said they will hold Iran accountable for attacks on US bases by Iranian proxies. US troops in Iraq and Syria came under a spate of new rocket and drone attacks over the weekend, as the Pentagon sent an Ohio-class nuclear-powered submarine into the region …

Introduction Hamas’s surprise October 7, 2023 terror attack, in which over 1,400 were brutally murdered and another 241 (at last count) taken hostage, will go down in infamy. As Hamas leader abroad Khaled Mashal boasted on October 26 on Egypt’s Sada Elbalad TV, the Russians told him that this attack …

SWI swissinfo.ch: Often using military force, Russia has imposed pro-Russian separatist movements in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria and, of course, in eastern Ukraine. However, Putin has always defended himself against criticism, claiming that NATO intervened in Kosovo in 1999. Is that comparison fair? Oliver Jens Schmitt: No, they’re two completely …

Lebanese militia Hezbollah will step up attacks on bordering Israeli areas and US military sites in the Middle East up to a “complete confrontation” if Israel continues its offensive in the Gaza Strip, Naim Qassem, the group’s deputy secretary general, said in an interview with NBC News. “Hezbollah participates [in …

Israeli-Saudi Normalization Is on Hold—but Not off the Table Hamas is going to be able to claim very few victories in its war with Israel, but one that it has already notched is an abrupt halt in the momentum toward a U.S.-brokered deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The Israeli-Saudi …