Middle Orient

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The Houthis are preparing to march on Riyadh while the Revolutionary Guards are driving America out of every continent. America’s security umbrella has failed to provide the Gulf petro-monarchies with the much-touted security against Iran and the axis of resistance. Instead, it has made them more susceptible to the realization …

The state utility now provides less than a third of the country’s electricity, a victim of chronic under-investment. Why? Because the people with the power to fix it are profiting from the racket that’s replaced it Lebanon now relies on diesel-powered generators for about half of its electricity supply, further …

Key Takeaways: Senior leaders in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region have publicly discussed facilitating peace talks between Iran and Iranian Kurdish armed opposition groups based in the autonomous region, with PUK head Bafel Talabani describing the start of a process similar to Turkey’s and noting Tehran’s positive response. Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan …

Key Takeaways: Yemen’s civil war has reignited with Saudi Arabia, backed by Turkish and Pakistani forces, fighting the Iran-linked Houthis, who have forged opportunistic ties with Al-Shabaab, Islamic State in Somalia, Somali pirates, and AQAP for weapons, training, and smuggling routes.Non-state militant and criminal groups worldwide are building a crime-terror …

Key TakeawaysRecent waves of Iranian attacks on vessels in and near the Strait of Hormuz indicate that Iran retains the ability to effectively target vessels in the strait, which suggests that Iran has either overcome previous operational challenges or is adapting to such constraints through new tactics or capabilities.The Houthis …

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Security tensions are rising in al-Hasakah (northeastern Syria) amid allegations that members of the Revolutionary Youth Movement are targeting participants in demonstrations calling for the Syrian flag to be raised and state authority to be asserted, as well as assaulting civilians, searching their phones, and threatening them. These incidents are …

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Key Takeaways: The article argues that Red Sea insecurity originates on land, where Houthi smuggling, assembly and launch capabilities—bolstered by Iranian support—turn Yemeni territory into a platform for threatening global shipping, and that naval interceptions alone cannot remove the source. It contends that restoring full Yemeni state sovereignty over ports, …