Middle Orient

When Italian authorities announced last week that they had seized 15.4 tons of counterfeit Captagon produced by ISIS in Syria to fund terrorism, it was lauded as one of the largest drug busts in history.

Lebanese businessman and accused Hezbollah financier Kassem Tajeddine arrived in the capital Beirut following his compassionate early release from US detention, three years into a five-year sentence for evading US sanctions.

On June 25, Iraqi forces arrested 14 militants belonging to the Iran-backed Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH) in an anti-terrorism raid ordered by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. The KH members were allegedly planning an attack on Baghdad’s Green Zone, which houses the U.S. Embassy and other diplomatic compounds. Shortly after the arrest, …

Over the last two weeks, explosions have taken place at the Khojir missile production complex in Tehran and the Natanz nuclear complex. While Iranian officials have downplayed the events, it is likely that both blasts at the facilities were acts of sabotage.

Italian authorities stunned the world by announcing the “Islamic State” was trying to ship €1 billion worth of amphetamines into Europe. But after analysts raised doubts, eyes turn to President Bashar Assad’s regime.

The powerful Hezbollah group said on Tuesday it is in talks with the Lebanese government about the possibility of Iran supplying the country with refined oil products in exchange for Lebanese pounds.

Iraq’s new leader has taken significant steps to confront Iranian-linked militias that have targeted American troops, a top U.S. military official said Tuesday, adding that the United States must remain patient as Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi challenges groups with formidable military and political clout.

Security forces in northern Syria’s Afrin province, liberated from terrorists through Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch, thwarted a potential terrorist attack by detecting a bomb left in a package in front of a store.

Following is the June installment of “ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency,” a monthly update on the ongoing attacks by the terrorist group ISIS in central Syria. The May update can be read here, the April update here, and a full background and analysis of ISIS’s resurgence can be read …

Defying state power, a group of 14 pro-Iran militiamen clothed in khaki military fatigues trampled over doctored portraits of Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.