Middle Orient

Although they are on the same side in the conflict in Syria, Russia and Iran each maintain their own priorities beyond propping up the Assad regime. Russia and Iran have expended massive resources to carve out their own long-term spheres of influence in Syria and throughout the broader region.

Hezbollah’s leader warned the United States against striking Iran, saying if it does “the entire region will burn.” US President Donald Trump “knows that when the region is on fire, a barrel of oil will be $200 or $300,” Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, said …

Israel has carried out airstrikes in Syria in response to rare rocket fire from the neighbouring country. A war monitor reported that 10 people were killed, including Syrian soldiers and foreign fighters.

The Israeli military says it has finished sealing the last of a series of Hezbollah attack tunnels under the country’s northern border with Lebanon, roughly six months after they were found.

Iraqi military intelligence forces arrested on Monday three Islamic State terrorists at al-Salamiya refugee camp in Mosul city.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman slammed Iran over recent attacks targeting the kingdom, describing the incidents on Saturday in a speech before Muslim leaders gathered in Mecca as “terrorist acts” that threaten global energy supplies.

Rising tensions in the Gulf threaten to undercut the political dominance of Iraq’s Shiite militias as they tone down their anti-American rhetoric to avoid being targeted by the US but also seek to maintain close ties with Tehran.

U.S. forces have quietly sent at least 30 suspected foreign Islamic State fighters captured in Syria last year and in late 2017 to stand trial in Iraq, interviews with the men, Iraqi sources and court documents show.

U.S. forces have quietly sent at least 30 suspected foreign Islamic State fighters captured in Syria last year and in late 2017 to stand trial in Iraq, interviews with the men, Iraqi sources and court documents show.

While European powers still claim Iran’s regime is in compliance with the nuclear deal, a new German intelligence report accuses the Islamic Republic of seeking to build weapons of mass destruction.