Middle Orient

Syria’s Kurdish authorities say the move does not guarantee people’s rights Syria’s President Ahmad Al Shara on Friday issued a decree affirming the rights of Kurdish ⁠Syrians, formally recognising their language ​and restoring citizenship to the country’s largest minority community. “I have the honour to issue a decree especially for …

Recent clashes between Damascus and the Kurdish forces in Aleppo highlight the risk that stalling integration talks may trigger broader violence. Since its signing on March 10, no tangible progress has been made on the eight-point agreement between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian Interim Government to facilitate …

The incident points to the myriad ways that U.S. adversaries might exploit Moscow’s efforts to claim a permanent stake in Syria’s needy postwar energy sector. This month, shipping data showed a U.S.-sanctioned oil tanker arriving in Syria with a load of Russian crude oil—hardly a surprise given that sanctioned vessels …

Israel’s approval of the delayed export agreement is a welcome development, but U.S. officials should view it as the start, not the end, of efforts to ease tensions between two key peace partners. On December 17, Israel announced the largest natural gas deal in its history—a $35 billion agreement to …

The possibility that its Iranian patron may be toppled is stoking Hezbollah’s existential fears, giving U.S. officials an opening to step up the pressure on Beirut, accelerate the disarmament process, and stave off looming Israeli escalation. On January 8, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi landed in Beirut with an economic …

Israel may believe the tense status quo is sustainable, but Washington is frustrated about the potential implications for Arab normalization, Turkish military friction, and near-term economic plans. Prospects for more normal if not formally peaceful relations between Syria and Israel were diminishing in recent months. Thus it was positive that …

Recent clashes between Damascus and the Kurdish forces in Aleppo highlight the risk that stalling integration talks may trigger broader violence. Since its signing on March 10, no tangible progress has been made on the eight-point agreement between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian Interim Government to facilitate …

As protests grow, regime leaders have no clear options for scaring Iranians off the streets, intimidating foreign powers, or escaping their wider strategic crisis. For all the military weapons remaining in the Iranian regime’s arsenal, it has finally been deprived of the one that authoritarians rely upon most: fear. For …

What began as clashes in Aleppo’s Kurdish neighbourhoods is now reshaping life in Iraqi Kurdistan, from street protests to media shifts and refugee tensions. Clashes between Syrian government forces and Kurdish armed groups in Ashrafia and Sheikh Maqsoud, Kurdish-populated neighbourhoods of Aleppo, have notably altered the political and social dynamics …

Egypt, Qatar and Turkey said that former Palestinian deputy minister Ali Shaath would lead a new technocratic committee tasked with administering post-war Gaza. Gaza native and former Palestinian Authority deputy minister Ali Shaath will head the new technocratic committee set to administer the devastated Gaza Strip, mediating countries announced on …