Middle Orient

On March 19, Turkey’s defense ministry announced the death of two Turkish soldiers at the hands of “radical elements” in northwest Syria’s Idlib. The men were killed in a de-escalation zone that Turkey and Russia first delineated in 2018 and reaffirmed with a ceasefire deal on March 5. Hurras al-Din, …

Kurdish-led forces on Monday put down a revolt at a prison in northeast Syria for former Islamic State fighters after militants complaining about their conditions seized control of parts of the facility.

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah’s strong support has salvaged the government of Prime Minister Hassan Diab from a shakeup, politicians with close ties to the March 8 alliance told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Israeli security forces have arrested two Palestinians in the Ramallah area, including the father of a terrorist responsible for two deadly attacks against soldiers and civilians in 2018.

“It’s like we are holding a ticking bomb in our hands,” a guard in a prison in northeastern Syria told us in February. The facility holds roughly 5,000 accused Islamic State militants from all over the world.

Earlier this month, following attacks on a base holding US troops in Iraq, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that Iran will continue to respond to America’s assassination of Commander Qasem Soleimani on 3 January.

In a recent address marking the 5-year anniversary of the start of Yemen’s current civil war, the leader of the Houthi movement, Abdel Malik al Houthi, offered to exchange a captured Saudi pilot for Hamas members currently awaiting trial in Saudi Arabia.

Jihadists and other militant extremists are seeing a world health crisis as a window of opportunity.

The U.S. Department of State has added Asaib Ahl al Haq, an Iranian-backed Iraqi Shia terror group also known as “League of the Righteous,” to its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Additionally, the group’s leader, Qais al Khazali, and his brother, Laith al Khazali, have been listed as Specially Designated …

In a recent speech, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah blamed U.S. pressure for the release of former South Lebanon Army (SLA) member and American citizen Amer Fakhoury.