Middle Orient

Dix ans après l’immolation qui a enflammé la Tunisie, de nombreux pays arabes sont toujours K.-O. L’euphorie de l’hiver 2011 n’a abouti ni à une démocratie libérale ni à une théocratie islamiste, mais à un chaos politique et à un désastre économique dont Israël est le principal vainqueur.

A batch of officers and other military personnel have been demobilized by the Ministry of Defense, reports Al-Watan. On Monday, the Ministry of Defense started implementing a decision to dismiss a batch of reserve officers, class officers, and reserve personnel.

No human casualties despite heavy shelling by Syrian government forces against opposition groups in northwestern Syria, writes North Press. Syrian government forces shelled posts of opposition groups in Idleb, northwestern Syria, on Thursday.

Violent clashes have broken out near Hama between the Syrian Arab Army and ISIS, according to Al-Masdar. The eastern countryside of Hama witnessed, at dawn on Wednesday, February 3, violent clashes between units of the Syrian Arab Army and cells affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization.

Syria has shot down Israeli missiles near the administrative border between the Suweida and Damascus Governorates, reports Al-Masdar. The Syrian Arab Army announced this evening that its air defense units confronted several missiles that were fired by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) from the occupied Golan Heights region.

Some claim that a secret deal between Ankara and Damascus is behind the latest escalation between the Syrian government and the Kurds, but the situation could be more complex than it seems.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in a phone call with the Chief Advisor to the President of Turkey Ibrahim Kalin said that Turkey’s acquisition of the Russian S-400 air defense system undermines NATO effectiveness, the White House said.

Iran’s representative to the Vienna-based organizations says the country has installed new cascades of advanced centrifuges at two nuclear sites in Natanz and Fordow to increase enrichment capacity.

The Syrian regime forces’ 4th Division is trying to storm the city of Tafas in the western countryside of Daraa, in search of wanted persons whom the regime forces call jihadists.

Although talks are set to resume this week, the prospects of a Syrian Kurdish unity deal seem more elusive than ever, with plenty of sticking points threatening to sink the effort. Rival Syrian Kurdish parties are expected to resume US-backed “unity talks” this week, but prospects of a deal seem …