The discovery On September 26, Swiss-based Nord Stream AG, the operator of the Nord Stream pipelines, informed Danish authorities of a pressure drop at Nordstream 2 landfalls in Russia and Germany. As early as 13:56 Danish local time, the national shipping authority (Søfartsstyrelsen) issued a navigational warning for a sea …

Both Russia and Iran have deep, multifaceted, and long-standing connections to Syria. During the Cold War, Damascus emerged as the Soviet Union’s most loyal Middle Eastern ally, and the relationship regained vibrancy in the 2000s as Vladimir Putin strove to reestablish Moscow’s regional preeminence. Meanwhile, the 1979 Iranian revolution reversed …

What’s new? A three-year ceasefire in rebel-held Idlib has saved countless lives and allowed the main insurgent group, Hei’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), to redirect its efforts from fighting the regime to dismantling ISIS and other jihadist cells. Yet uncertainty regarding Türkiye’s Syria policy may threaten the relative peace and hamper humanitarian …

Don’t Believe the Hype—the War in Ukraine Has Led to Little Change When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it seemed like a transformational moment for European security. Surely now Europe would finally get its act together on defense. But as the war enters its second year, such a transformation …

To Protect Its National Security, Israel Will Need to Compromise These are trying times for the U.S.-Israeli relationship, which the U.S. government often defines as ironclad. Benjamin Netanyahu has returned to power as Israel’s prime minister in a governing coalition that is the country’s most right-wing and religious in history. …

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani is playing a delicate balancing act with pro-Iran factions as Washington keeps a low profile for its military advisers in Iraq in order to subdue the Islamic State. More than eleven years after he led the last US battalions out of Iraq, US Defense Secretary …

The UAE and Iran have cordial economic and political relations, despite being on opposite sides of some regional rivalries. Iran and the United Arab Emirates agreed on Tuesday to work together more on aviation matters, Iranian state media reported. Iranian Civil Aviation Organization spokesman Jafar Yazarloo said they signed a …

The top Iranian and Turkish diplomats are also expected to discuss the Syrian, Nagorno-Karabakh and bilateral files during their meeting. The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday that Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian would pay a visit to Turkey in solidarity after the twin earthquakes. Amir-Abdollahian, who will travel to Turkey …

Several Qatari-owned news websites had been inaccessible to UAE residents since relations worsened in 2016 over Doha’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood, but at least four are now unblocked. The United Arab Emirates appears to have unblocked a number of Qatari news websites after more than seven years of blocking …

The Russian government on Monday has branded Soros-funded Transparency International (TI) as “undesirable,” effectively banning it from operating in the country. The TI once blocked calls to help NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013. An AP report said: The Russian prosecutor’s office charged that while “formally acting as an organization …