Middle Orient

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has ordered the start of nuclear talks with the United States, local media said, as his counterpart Donald Trump threatened “bad things” if no deal with the Islamic republic was struck. Following the Iranian authorities’ deadly response to anti-government protests that peaked last month, the US …

They’re all connected to its role in jointly building the “New Syria”. Syrian President Ahmed “Jolani” al-Sharaa’s second trip to Moscow in several months was widely interpreted as having to do with the future of Russia’s air and naval bases there. That may be true, especially since they play a …

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been accused of serving as a “Zionist Trojan horse” within the Arab world, enabling Israeli influence and destabilising the region to serve Tel Aviv’s ambitions. In a scathing article by Saudi academic and former Shura Council member, Dr Ahmed bin Othman Al-Tuwaijri, the Emirates …

Amid ambiguity and the absence of a clear institutional framework, implementation of the agreement signed between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is set to begin tomorrow, Monday, February 2. Although the start of procedural steps has been announced, the past hours have seen an escalation in …

Mike Huckabee tells Israeli TV that decision on US strike on Iran yet to be made; says embassy surprised by cancellation of flights to Israel; vows Turkey won’t receive F-35s US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said in an interview aired Saturday that US President Donald Trump will not disappoint …

Supreme leader says Washington knows that conflict would spread, Iranians not afraid; in tit-for-tat, Tehran’s parliament designates European armies as terrorist organizations Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday that if the US attacks Iran, the hostilities will broaden into a regional conflict, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. …

Trump’s attempts to improve ties with both Turkey and Saudi Arabia brought about the US lending its endorsement to al-Sharaa’s Islamist regime in Damascus. The result is that al-Sharaa has now set about, at the very least, failing to prevent (here, here and here) wholesale attempts, apparently by his own …

Internal security units of Syria’s Interior Ministry began entering Hassakeh on Monday as a deal with the U.S.-backed terrorist group YPG is being implemented. To begin the implementation process, a convoy consisting of eight armored personnel carriers belonging to Syria’s Interior Ministry, numerous four-wheel-drive pickup trucks, an ambulance, and a …

Syrian government forces entered the ethnically mixed city of Hasakah on Monday and prepared to do the same in Kobani and Qamishli, under the first phase of a deal to integrate areas held by the Syrian Democratic Forces. The National witnessed about 15 armoured vehicles and police cars carrying roughly …

Syria’s government has reached a milestone agreement with the Kurdish-led militia in the country’s north-east, aimed at gradually integrating the group into the central army as part of a transition following Bashar Al Assad’s ousting in December 2024. The “comprehensive agreement” between Damascus and the Syrian Democratic Forces is to …