Middle Orient

Aleppo Province – Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: Turkish forces stationed in their military bases in “Euphrates Shield” areas, have shelled Al-Shahbaa area, Sad Al-Shahbaa and the surrounding areas of Mare’ town in Kurdish-held areas in the northern countryside of Aleppo. No casualties have been reported.

A military commander of the Russian-backed “Liwaa Al-Quds” and his escort were killed, while another member sustained serious injuries, after their car was targeted today with a guided missile on Tallat Balah in Aleppo countryside.

The U.N. special envoy for Syria announced Wednesday that the next round of talks toward revising the war-battered country’s constitution will start in Geneva on Jan. 25 and urged the parties to move to actual drafting.

Twin suicide bombings ripped through a busy market in the Iraqi capital on Thursday, killing at least 32 people and wounding dozens, officials said in what was the first massive bombing in years, harkening back to darker days of rampant militant attacks.

Syrian opposition groups worry that the Turkish withdrawal signals a coming military offensive. The opposition factions in Idlib confronted Jan. 14 a ground attack launched by the Syrian regime forces on al-Ankawi axis in al-Ghab Plain in northwest Hama that lies south of the strategic M4 highway.

The now former president pardoned the Israeli handler of American spy Jonathan Pollard as well as an Iranian-American man who was charged with violating Iran sanctions, among dozens of others.

A building in Ayn al-Arab belonging to the Kurdish National Council was attacked by unknown individuals, causing severe damage to the building reports SY-24.

Tehran claims there have been no informal preliminary talks with the incoming US administration, but signs of economic relief are already appearing in Tehran’s forex market.

Tuesday’s ground forces exercise followed naval and drone drills last week, as tensions with the United States continue. The Iranian army began a military drill in the Gulf of Oman on Tuesday. Iran’s military has conducted several military exercises in the last few days at a time of heightened tensions …

President Hassan Rouhani appeared more upbeat on the prospects of the Iran nuclear deal on the day that Donald Trump departed from the White House. Donald Trump’s departure from the White House must have prompted a sigh of relief from his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, who declared the outgoing US …