Middle Orient

Q. Has Turkey taken any steps to acquire nuclear weapons? Ankara appears to be taking quiet but deliberate steps toward producing enriched uranium fuel, which has dual purposes in fueling nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. In October 2024, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and National Intelligence Chief Ibrahim Kalin visited …

Since October 7, 2023, the issue of terrorist use of tunnels has been front and center for those involved in strategic planning and military preparedness. While Western officials responsible for border security should be concerned about the tunnels that Hamas has used in its warfare and that Hizbullah has built …

President Donald Trump recently informed Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in Israel that he intends to withdraw the 2,000 U.S. troops stationed in Syria to combat the remnants of Islamic State, according to Israeli media. If true, that news is sure to stir the pot in Washington, where Trump’s pledge to remove …

The fall of the brutal Assad regime marks a critical opportunity for the United States to remove itself entirely from Syria, avoiding entanglement in further war. American troops have been in Syria for the past decade with the primary objective of defeating the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), …

President Donald Trump’s stunning proposal to forcibly transfer hundreds of thousands of Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and develop it as a tourist destination faces major obstacles. The Palestinians and many others view such plans as an attempt to drive them from their homeland after Israel’s 15-month offensive against …

On January 29, 2025, a “Convention to Announce the Victory of the Syrian Revolution” was held in Damascus, where Ahmed Al-Sharaa aka Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani, who had served as leader of jihadi group Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), was announced interim president of Syria.[1] A “Statement Announcing the Victory of the …

On January 29, 2025, Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa aka Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani, described as the “leader of the new Syrian administration,” delivered an address titled “Victory Speech.”[1] Al-Sharaa celebrated the triumph of the Syrian revolution, as he announces radical transformation marked by leadership change, political restructuring, economic …

Unless the world begins to value Palestinian life as equal to their own, ceasefires in Gaza will be mere pauses in the bloodshed, says Mohammed R. Mhawish. When my family and I emerged from the rubble of our home in Gaza in December 2023, we didn’t know if the calm …

In Syria, putting Humpty Dumpty together again is no mean task. Israel’s demolition of the ill-equipped Syrian military and the recent occupation of additional Syrian territory beyond the Golan Heights it conquered in the 1967 Middle East war is just one obstacle. So is a daunting list of challenges that, …

Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s announcement, made during a secretive conference in Damascus, left Syrians with unanswered questions about their country’s future Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa was named president of the country during its transitional period less than two months after Bashar al-Assad was toppled. Addressing a military conference, the Hayat …