Middle Orient

Toplines Israel reportedly gave the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) a deadline of December 7 to make progress in its disarmament of Hezbollah amid ongoing Israeli preparations for a potential operation in Lebanon.[1] An Israeli Channel 13 journalist reported on November 28 that the LAF has until after Pope Leo XIV …

Toplines The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed Hezbollah’s “de facto chief of staff” and senior commander Haitham Ali Tabatabai in Beirut’s southern suburbs on November 23.[1] Tabatabai’s death will likely disrupt Hezbollah’s reconstitution for a short period because of Tabatabai’s significant experience at many echelons of command in fighting against …

More than ten civilians, including women and children, were killed and 11 others injured when the Israeli army bombed the town of Beit Jinn (in the Damascus countryside near Mount Hermon in southern Syria) at dawn on Friday, 28 November. The town is currently witnessing a wave of displacement to …

The Islamic Group in Lebanon has expressed surprise at Israel dragging its name into what it called the Israeli “attack” on the Syrian town of Beit Jinn (a town in the southwestern countryside of Damascus, near the occupied Syrian Golan Heights), denying Israeli accusations that it carries out any activities …

The Palestinian terror groups clearly want to hold on to their weapons: they evidently see that having weapons is the only way for them to control, directly and indirectly, any new government established in the Gaza Strip. They also evidently see that whoever is in charge of security in the …

“Hamas is committed to disarming according to the ceasefire agreement. But Hamas is not disarming. It is rebuilding its control,” Col. Nadav Shoshani tells a group of foreign reporters gathered at a base of the IDF’s 252nd Division in Gaza. Shoshani is the IDF’s international spokesman. The position is located …

Toplines Unspecified Iranian officials told The Telegraph on November 25 that the Houthis and some unspecified Iranian-backed Iraqi groups have become less responsive to Tehran.[1] The Iranian officials mischaracterized Iran’s relationship with the Houthis and Iraqi militias by misrepresenting how the Axis of Resistance functions, however. The Telegraph, citing unspecified …

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A Financial Times investigation unveiled that an Iranian company claimed to possess Western-origin nuclear-related technology, which highlights how Iran continues to adapt its procurement network to advance its nuclear program despite sanctions. The Financial Times reported on November 25 that an Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND) front company, …

Abstract: Iraq’s digital economy is one of its fastest-growing sectors, driven by an expanding youth population, a transition to e-governance services, and the potential for Iraq to become a regional data transit hub. As with militia monetization of Iraq’s oil sector, the telecommunications industry is attracting the attention of U.S.-designated …