Middle Orient

The Lebanese army on Monday night moved in to break up a group of hundreds of men on mopeds driving through central Beirut with flags of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement chanting slogans against the mass demonstrations now in their sixth day.

The suspects are accused of conspiring to carry out terrorist attacks, including shooting at security patrols and kidnapping a Jordanian intelligence officer.

As Turkey continues its offensive into territory controlled by the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Islamic State has exploited the chaos to strike in the heart of the Kurdish-held areas of northern Syria.

The Turkish invasion of neighboring Syria has resulted in widespread casualties, large numbers of refugees, widespread destruction and growing insecurity, Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper said.

Russia says it won’t allow clashes between Turkish and Syrian forces as Turkey pressed its offensive against Kurdish forces in northern Syria.

The belligerent president has forgotten that his country is a democracy, not a dictatorship. It is time for him to go.

The Pentagon expects to fight the Islamic State from Iraq, a senior defense official said today, as American troops are set to leave northern Syria under pressure from a Turkish offensive probing deeper into the war-torn country than the Defense Department anticipated.

France and Britain on Tuesday accused Turkey and the United States of undoing five years worth of work in fighting Islamic State and scrambled to define how to react should militants escape prisons and camps in Syria.

In meeting the Turkish leader, the vice president is expected to reiterate President Trump’s demand for a negotiated cease-fire.

Two separate explosions, possibly caused by missile attacks, have hit an Iranian oil tanker operated by the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) near the Saudi port city of Jeddah, in what Tehran calls a “dangerous adventure”.